Papers and Memories
by liz-loz
Summary: Kurt and Blaine are getting a divorce. They are at the offices about to sign the papers when the presiding figure asks them to go through their relationship one more time.
1. Chapter 1 Kurt

_Hi guys_

_I know I'm not supposed to have more than one fic on the go at the same time, but writing for YDOYD:SY kind of went off track recently. It should be resumed very soon but for now here is another fic to keep you occupied!_

_Liz xxx_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

I sat in the room, rocking back and forth slightly on the chair. Every so often I would check my watch, noting how the temperature of the room was just slightly too cold for my liking.

He was late.

"He's late." I repeated, this time out loud for the benefit of Steve. He was dressed in his usual smart attire of a dark blue suit, light blue shirt and shiny tie blending in nicely and his fingers clicking away on the polished keys of his laptop. If he wasn't my solicitor his impeccable sense for fashion and cleanliness meant we might actually be quite good friends.

"I know. Be patient Kurt." I sighed, a long drawn out sound that reflected my opinion of this whole situation. My eyes rested on the wall clock in the room – following the plastic hand ticking round the numbers until finally the door suddenly opened.

"Sorry we're late." I looked up to meet the eyes of Brian – another smartly dressed solicitor but not quite as handsome as mine. The hair on the top of his head was thinning already and it looked like his dye needed a touch up. Opening the door had sent another waft of cold air through the room and the leaves of the plant nearby fluttered in it.

"That's fine Brian." The words had been directed at me but Steve answered, leaving his laptop to smile nicely and signal to the seats opposite us. As Brian went to sit down I purposefully ignored him – eyes focused on the person behind him.

"Blaine." He looked up, his eyes having been trained on his own solicitor's back – suddenly fixing on me. I was shocked by the feeling that jolted through me.

"Kurt."

It was funny. He looked exactly the same as when I'd first met him – charming, innocent, beautiful. His hair was still styled in the same public schoolboy fashion and that musky woody smell of his wafted over and hovered torturingly over my nostrils. But his eyes told a different story. Blaine sat down in the chair diagonal from mine, crossing his legs and fixing me with a glare I'd never thought I would ever see.

"Ok." Suddenly the man that had been silent throughout this whole process piped up, clearing his throat and brushing down an imaginary piece of fluff on his jacket lapel. "Good morning gentlemen."

"Good morning." For once we all spoke in union and said the same thing – again Blaine and my eyes connected at the sound of the other's voice and that same feeling rushed through me. I couldn't decide if it was desire or hatred.

"I understand both parties have agreed and are ready to proceed?" Brian and Steve nodded at the question directed to them, each quickly glancing to their client before they responded. I nodded my head as quickly as I could before focusing my eyes on the plant that had moved earlier. The sound of a suitcase being placed on the table regained my attention – the man flicked it open and then slowly opened it. He picked out the two sets of paper, held them in one hand as he reclosed the case and then slid each to opposite sides of the table.

"You may present these." Immediately Steve picked up our copy. He shifted in his chair to face me and then put on a hushed tone to his voice.

"Ok. I checked through this earlier. It agrees to an equal split of assets with you still having full control of your business and the warehouse, as long as Blaine gets to keep the house." Holding out my palm I was handed the document and flicked through it. This was it. Printed out on these pages was every symbol of my relationship with Blaine. Every trinket, item, memory. Listed and then divided like meaningless words. I suppose I should be angry that it had ended like this – that all my hard work and dreams had gone to nothing. But that was life.

"Ok. That's fine." I handed the paper back to Steve, not wanting to see it any more, and then stole a glance across the room. Blaine and Brian seemed to be having a more in depth conversation – Blaine's forehead creased in a way I used to find adorable. I tried to read what his lips were saying but couldn't figure it out, and was then cut off anyway by him nodding his head and then turning back to us.

"We agree." All of us turned to look at the man. He was holding his briefcase in both hands, clasping the metal handle in a relaxed but strong looking manner. I suppose he dealt with things like this all the time – families being torn apart, people giving up. It was just a job to him.

"All you need to do is sign and you are no longer Mr and Mr Hummel-Anderson." Suddenly two pens appeared on the table. I stared at them like they were aliens. Steve picked up ours and handed it to me, his expression solemn but understanding.

"Sign Kurt." It will only take two seconds. Then finally you can get on with your life. I sighed, taking it from him and then flicking to the right page. My signature was flamboyant and took up a large majority of the line. I then looked up to Blaine, who had signed his copy too and stared back at me.

"Swap." The papers were placed on the table – I used the tips of my fingers to push mine over – eyes never breaking contact with him as I did so, and then the other was sent back my way too. I stared down at his signature – something I had seen so many times before on so many things. The last time I would ever see it.

"Before you finish." Suddenly I looked to the side. The man had spoken again, stopping us in his tracks. The pen was in my hand but Blaine had already moved to begin writing – something that annoyed me slightly.

"I like to talk with both parties frankly – try to help them decide if this is really what they want."

"_Oh this is what we want_." My response came out more bitter than I intended it, perhaps from the annoyance from before or just the fact that I was tired, I was tired of this.

"Yes. It is." I looked at Blaine and saw he was tired too.

"Well humour me." The man signalled for us to sit back. For a second I wanted to disobey and I could tell Blaine agreed. But for some unknown reason I didn't. As I leant back in the chair Steve looked at me in confusion but I simply handed him the pen and folded my arms, waiting expectantly.

"Who wants to tell me about the first time you met?" I almost laughed at the question. _What_? This was ridiculous. Blaine seemed as disgusted as I was, almost leaning back forward for the papers, but he was held back by the man's imaginary force again and simply shook his head.

"Come on. One of you must remember." I wasn't saying anything. I glared at my husband – daring him to speak but also at the same time wanting him to. Then, after a minute or so of silence I finally relented.

"Ok, fine. I will."

* * *

The coffee shop was busy. I was in a rush and slightly damp from the rain outside. I hated rain – it pretty much ruined every pretty thing. If I didn't hurry up I was going to be late for my first class, but I had to get my morning coffee. I'd been in such a rush I hadn't even gone to my normal place – just picked the first one I came across after running from my dorm. The queue was long so I spent the majority of the time brushing myself off and trying to make my hair resemble something of what it had when I'd first left. Maybe Rachel would save me a seat – she usually did. And she owed me anyway after setting me up on that _horrendous _date.

I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I barely noticed the shuffling steps I took, people pushing past with steaming beverages, until suddenly a voice brought me out of my daze.

"Can I help you?" I glanced up, ready to state my order and then get out of here. Then all speech became impossible.

The man standing in front of me was gorgeous. Dense black hair, parted to the side with just enough gel to tame it but show a hint of curl, framing a face made of tanned skin and cheekbones like knives. For a second I wondered if instead of waking up I'd somehow been instantly killed and transported straight to heaven. That was the only explanation for such a beautiful face. And those eyes…

"Can I help you?" Oh God. He'd repeated the question. In a flash I was back to reality and somehow still inches away from the same person. Well, technically there was a counter separating us, but still.

"Um…er…yeah…" Christ. I couldn't even speak. Somehow this man had made me speechless simply by the power of just being there. And speaking to me in that velvety voice. Suddenly I started to imagine that voice saying my name – saying my name as he held me close, kissed my neck, took off my shirt…

"Hey Mr, do you wanna order? Some of us have jobs to get to!" Damn. Again I jerked back to the present and again I wished I hadn't. I was really making a fool of myself now. And the worst part was heaven guy was finding it amusing.

"I'm sorry, are you ok?" He smiled and I almost passed out. Come on Kurt. You either had to get yourself together_ now_ or leave the shop in disgrace. There's no way you would ever be able to return. This guy probably wasn't even gay anyway – that type never were. Inwardly slapping myself I tugged on the lapel of my coat and finally managed to say something.

"Grande nonfat mocha. Please." My voice was strangled. I sounded like I'd just come out of hiding and was using my vocal chords for the first time in months. Heaven boy tried to hide the smile that graced his face but didn't really succeed – what made it even more humiliating was that he looked even more attractive doing it. I was probably drooling.

"Coming right up." Moving to write my order on the cup I stared straight forward, not wanting to look around and see the crowd of people looking at me condescendingly for making them late. I was late too. He finished with a flourish then handed it to another barista, before looking back at me again.

"Anything else?"

"No." That was quite enough. He typed in the amount on the cash machine and then shot another devastating smile in my direction.

"That'll be 3 dollars 50 please." Fumbling around in my wallet I wanted more than ever to be transported to Siberia – somewhere where I might be able to cool down the flaming furnace that was my face. When I found the right change I practically flung it at him, not wanting to risk our hands touching and the noise that was building up inside me inevitably flying out.

"Thank you." Heaven boy was almost finished, putting away my change and then ripping off the receipt, handing it to me. "Have a nice day." Oh I would.


	2. Chapter 2 Blaine

**Chapter 2**

"Your face was priceless." Kurt's eyes darted up, surprised by the interruption. I could feel a faint smile on my lips and knew he could see it – perhaps not having the same effect it had the first time. I rubbed the back of my neck and leant back in my chair casually. "I thought you'd seen a ghost."

"Well you were attractive. What else was I supposed to do." I could see the edges of his cheeks beginning to redden, obviously sensing it Kurt looked down at the floor and my smile widened.

"Your hair looked adorable too. All messed up by the rain."

"At least one of us changed the style of it since then." The sharpness of his reply caught me off guard. Brian's eyebrows raised, decreasing the gap between them and his receding hairline but creasing up his forehead in the process. Steve just looked at his laptop nervously. For a second silence fell across the room until suddenly the man spoke again.

"So that was the first time you met?"

"Officially, yes. But there were other times, before we started, _courting_." I smiled again, unable to help myself, and the man looked at me.

"Tell me."

* * *

"That guy's there again." I glanced up from the percolator – the one I had been trying to get working for about 15 minutes but had been having no success with.

"Who?"

"Your guy." Instantly I stopped hitting the machine.

"Really?" I went to crane my neck round the corner but Cindy slapped me on the shoulder.

"_Blaine_! Don't stare!"

"But how am I supposed to see if it's him?"

"_Believe me_, he's been here enough times for me to know who he is." The smile that crept across my face was impossible to hide. Cindy smiled too before squeezing my hand and going back to staring out at the queue. The same guy had been coming to the East Street Bean every day for the past week and a half. It was probably coincidence – lots of people came here every day, we were part of many morning routines. But this guy was different. Whenever I served him he seemed to lose the ability to talk, although he had been getting better at it recently. I found it absolutely adorable. I found _him_ adorable.

"He's five people away. When it gets to three you can trade with Anita."

"What? No!" I knew it was useless trying to fight, but this was ridiculous. I had been set up by Cindy before and it hadn't turned out well.

"Come on! How are you going to talk to him if you're stuck behind the percolator?"

"Well, we don't exactly _talk._" Hi, can I take your order, anything else?

"Then strike up a conversation! Honestly, Blaine, you'd think you'd never been out in the real world!" I flicked some coffee beans at my friend making her squeal, before she made the number 4 with her fingers and I felt the lump in my throat grow. I had to admit, when I'd caught that flight to New York I hadn't exactly expected to be working in a coffee shop most of my life. But college had been too expensive and my dreams of becoming Broadway's next superstar hadn't been that realistic either. So I'd grabbed the first job I could and found I actually kinda liked it. I was good at making coffee and good at socializing with the people that did it. Gradually I'd paid for my own apartment and still managed to stay optimistic – even though I wasn't living my dream. I was living, and that was enough.

I checked my reflection in the percolator and gave it one last smack to try and look like I'd been working, before Anita appeared round the corner with a huge grin on her face.

"Enjoy, Broadway boy." She ducked away from my lunge, and I patted down my hair one final time before stepping out and smacking on my game face. The slight glance to my left told me that he was here; 'My guy' was definitely here. And wow, he looked nice today. Ever since the rain incident, he'd made much more of an effort with his appearance – I hadn't seen a hair out of place or a shirt collar ruffled. He really did have impeccable fashion sense – he must be studying it at college or something. I realized my thoughts were drifting, so focused on the three customers before him until suddenly he was there before me.

"Hello."

"Hi." He was much better now. Granted there was still a slight squeak to his voice, but that only made him more adorable. I kind of wanted to hear what his voice was like when it was gruff. I reckoned it was very sexy.

"Grande nonfat mocha?" As I recited his order to him my guy blushed crimson, I smiled and the redness deepened. I hoped I wasn't making him uncomfortable. For a couple of seconds he was unable to respond, but then managed to stammer out a reply.

"Y-yes. Thanks."

"Coming right up." As I scribbled the order on his cup I realised I should probably be taking more time with this. I mean, if this was the only chance I got to speak to the guy all day I'd be stupid to rush it right? Guessing his order had been a mistake.

"So, um…" As I started the conversation I realised I had no idea where it was going. Normally I found it easy to talk to people – I talked _too_ much. God, was I turning into him? "Nice weather today isn't it?" My guy glanced round to the window outside. There were a few clouds in the sky but overall it was a nice day.

"Um, yeah, I guess." Damn. Had that not been interesting enough? I needed to step up.

"You probably won't be needing that jacket." I signaled to the jacket he was wearing – a blue plaid one with brown piping that really brought out his hair and eyes. _Man_ he had striking eyes… My guy glanced down, his eyes having to go all over the place thanks to me, and then blushed again. Great, what had I done now?

"I, I dunno. It can be quite cold outside." He smiled, a tiny little smile and suddenly I felt like I'd just won a marathon. We were actually conversing. Momentarily of course, but still. _Conversing_. This was a huge deal.

"Ah, one of the cons of working inside – never know what it's like outside." I suddenly saw my manager looking at me in confusion, pointing to the cup I still hadn't given to Cindy. Oh crap – I was working wasn't I? Sighing inwardly I turned to my colleague – she gave me a subtle thumbs up and I nodded in thanks.

"Um, that'll be 3 dollars 50 please." I spoke before I had even typed the amount in the cash machine, knowing it off by heart. To my surprise my guy had already placed the money on the counter – the quarters all balanced on top of each other in a little pile. Smiling I picked them up and dispensed them, before tearing off the receipt and handing it to him.

"Have a nice day." For a second our eyes met and for that moment the world stood still – I got the greatest urge to reach out those last few inches and grab hold of his hand but managed to resist, simply smiling and then transferring my attention to the next customer.

When I'd served two more people, I suddenly felt someone tugging on my apron and turned round to see Anita standing behind me.

"Cindy wants you. _Quick_." Puzzled I handed the till over to her, rounding the small corner to see my friend crouched behind our favorite percolator waiting for me.

"Blaine!" She was whispering, and I felt like I should crouch down too.

"Cindy? What's going on?"

"Blaine, you have to ask him out!"

"What? What no!" I couldn't do that! "It's unprofessional!"

"For God's sake, he's a customer not your student!" I dug my hands in my apron, not knowing what to say.

"I can't. He's probably not even gay-"

"Blaine, that guy practically creams himself every time you speak. _He's gay_. And into you." Well that was something. If what she was saying was actually true, then I really did kind of want to go out with him. I actually really, _really _wanted to. "Go ask him!"

"Ok _fine_." Ask I took my hands out of my apron Cindy squealed and had to smack her hand over her mouth to stop the sound getting out.

"I made sure we ran out of stirrers so he's only just left – go get him!" Suddenly feeling a rush of adrenaline, I temporarily forgot where to go – my friend pushed me in the direction of the exit and I rushed through the coffee shop and out of the door.

Once I was outside, the cold rush of air hit me like a wave – jeez, my guy really _had_ been right about the chill. I suddenly remembered who I was looking for and frantically began scanning the crowds for him. Oh man – why did there have to be so many people in New York? I pushed past a few individuals, feeling my heart beating out of my chest, before suddenly I spotted a figure about to cross the road.

"Hey!" As I made my way over I suddenly realised I had no idea what this guy's name was – a few people were turning round as I shouted, but they all thought I was some stupid barista who was probably chasing a thief. Stuck with what to do, I shouted the first thing that came out of my mouth.

"Guy with the blazer! The plaid blazer!"

The guy turned round. He turned round just as the lights turned green, and he was about to cross the road. He turned round and looked especially surprised to see me.

"Hi!" I shouted as I ran the remaining distance, still unable to believe I'd found him. "Hi." When I finally reached him and stood half a metre away it dawned on me that he had no idea why I was here. "I'm sorry, um, sorry to, er, startle you."

"Is something wrong?" My guy looked worried, looking down at his drink and then back at me. Oh Lord, did he think he'd stolen something? Was I out to bring him back?

"No! No not at all. I just…um…well I…" My words were failing me. I rubbed the back of my neck nervously – something I noticed my guy picked up on and stared at. Ok, so he definitely liked me a little bit. I had to do this.

"Will you go out with me?" For a second my guy didn't register what had been said. He continued to stare at my neck, his mouth open just the tiniest bit – but then it registered. His eyes widened.

"What?" Oh no. Was this bad?

"I'm sorry, I mean I know this is out of the blue and I'm supposed to be working but I just wanted to know if you wanted to go out with me sometime. I mean actually do something not just go out because that would be a little stupid and I don't know why people say it like that but-"

"-Yes." Now it was my turn to stop.

"Um, pardon?"

"Yes. Yes I'd love to go out with you." Well wow. He'd actually said yes. That was…that was brilliant.

"Wow, um, ok…" I suddenly found myself having to catch my breath, my heart beating uncontrollably and my hands shaking slightly. My guy smiled and I got that same feeling in my stomach – like I'd just completed something very important.

"Do you want my number?" Fumbling around my apron I realised I didn't have a pen or paper – I was getting frustrated when my man suddenly shoved something in front of my face. I read the print of the East Street Bean on the napkin and laughed.

"Ok, thanks." Scribbling down my number I was about to hand it back, before an afterthought made me add one more thing.

"Blaine." I placed the napkin in his outstretched hand, pointing at my name as I did so. "I'm Blaine."

"Kurt." I smiled as my guy identity was finally revealed and Kurt smiled back. _Kurt_.

"So um, call me?"

"I will." Kurt folded up the napkin and placed it in his pocket. I watched it, praying there were no holes in that plaid blazer.

"See you later."


	3. Chapter 3 Kurt

**Chapter 3**

After he finished the story Blaine looked at me, as if he wanted confirmation of the details. Yes, that was how it had happened. At the time I'd thought it the most romantic thing I'd ever seen in my entire life. When I'd got home I'd felt like I was in some Kate Hudson movie and this man was going to be the Prince Charming to sweep me off my feet and help me live happily ever after. And for a while he had. That napkin had stayed in my bedside table drawer for at least three years. I had no idea where it was now.

"So you started dating after that?"

"Listen Mr…" I wavered over the name "…Sir. I don't think we really need to go over every inch of mine and Blaine's personal life." That had been what counselling was for.

"I'm only trying to work out the reasons for your divorce." The reasons are pretty freakin clear. We're sitting here, in a room, unable to stand the sight of each other. "You don't read the last page of a book before looking at the words before it." The man gave me a knowing look and I sighed, glancing over at Steve.

"Are we seriously going to do this?"

"Come on Kurt – isn't it nice to relive the good times?" Darting my eyes back to Blaine, I snapped at him.

"No. It's not. I'd rather not relive any times at all." He laughed and it made me even madder. "_Fine_. You tell all the happy flappy stories and I'll just sit here."

"No. You have to tell the next story." I cocked my head.

"What?"

"I told the last one, you tell the next. You remember our first date right?" Of course I remembered it. I remembered it very well…

* * *

I was a mess. I'd been a mess ever since four hours ago. I'd completely screwed up my sewing in seam class and had had to start all over again. This stress was making my hair fall out.

"What about this one?" Rachel stepped out of my closet with another jacket and I fended it away.

"No, not that one. That one's too garish."

"_Too_ garish?" The tall dark haired girl put her hand on her hip. "Since when were things 'too garish' for Kurt Hummel?"

"Since I started going on dates with respectable men." Respectable amazing men who worked in coffee shops. Ok, so it wasn't exactly Wall Street, but he had a job. That probably meant he was older.

"_Kurt_. It's just a date."

"JUST A DATE?" I had stalked, no, not stalked, _pursued_ this guy for weeks. I liked him _a lot_. I couldn't mess this up.

"Is this about Tyler?" Rachel went to sit down beside me but I held up my hands.

"DON'T talk about Tyler." Standing up and pushing past her I stepped inside my closet and shut the door.

"I shall not be disturbed."

Two hours later I was waiting outside the restaurant and crapping myself. He was definitely standing me up. There were only 3 minutes until 6 and nobody cut it that fine with dates. You were either early or didn't show up at all. Oh God Blaine couldn't stand me up. How would I ever be able to face him? I'd have to give up the East Street Bean – shame, I was starting to really like the coffee there. I was just about to freak out completely and leave when I heard a voice behind me.

"Kurt!" Turning round I saw Blaine strolling up towards me and instantly relief flooded over.

"Hi." As he approached I found myself unable to not stare – my eyes raking over the chinos and tight fitting shirt he was wearing. _Wow_.

"How are you?" Once he reached me I saw the uncertainty in his eyes on how to greet me – we settled for an awkward handshake and I knew it was lame. I didn't think I could quite handle a hug yet.

"Good thanks. You look…" I hesitated on the right word to use that wasn't 'ugh' or actually made sense. Blaine pulled a face.

"I know. I bet you weren't expecting some lame hipster guy when you saw me at the coffee store."

"No." I replied quickly, wanting to make myself clear. "I like it." The smile that spread across my date's face was almost too much – quickly I turned my attention to the restaurant door and signalled towards it.

"Shall we go inside?"

The restaurant was busy and I was glad we'd booked a table – it would have been a little silly having to leave again. The waiter took us to our spot and I was happy it was secluded. It also meant however that I wouldn't have much else to stare at other than Blaine.

"So…" As he paused to let me take a seat first my date spoke, smiling but swinging his body from side to side slightly as he did so. I sat down and waited for him to reciprocate and continue.

"…Have you been here before?" I glanced round, even though I knew where we were.

"Um, no. Well I've walked past it a bunch of times but never gone inside." Tyler and I had booked a table here once but that hadn't panned out.

"Good. I heard they do some amazing pan fried fish." Blaine smiled again reaching for the menu and for a second I had to remind myself to breathe. Come on Kurt – this was just a date. Possibly the most important date of your life, but still. _Be cool_. I grabbed my own menu and began looking at it. The prices were reasonable so I couldn't work out whether Blaine was rich or not. Not that it mattered. I'm pretty sure he could be living in his Grandma's house and I'd still want to shove my tongue down his throat. Once I'd made my selection I concentrated on looking slyly over my menu and analysing his face,

He was so beautiful. I had no idea how someone like him would even want to be seen in the same room as me – let alone after I had relentlessly made an ass of myself trying to order coffee. The way he was concentrating on reading his menu just made me want to reach out and stroke the creases on his face. But I didn't.

Finally after we had ordered and got our drinks we began our proper conversation. Blaine leant forward and sucked some of his diet coke through the straw before resting his chin on his hand and staring into my eyes.

"Tell me everything about yourself."

"Hey! I was going to say that!" It was the most cliché line in the book – almost as bad as 'Do you come here often?' – but I'd still been beaten to it. Blaine laughed and leant back in his chair, something that disappointed me.

"Well I said it first. Go." For a second I thought about protesting, but I suppose he had gotten there before me.

"Ok. Well my name is Kurt Hummel. I'm 21 years old in my junior year of college."

"What are you studying?"

"Fashion design." Blaine nodded, obviously having guessed that, and I blushed. "Can you tell?"

"Nobody has that good taste in jackets without having studied the science behind it." Glancing down at my dark brown jacket that I'd finally managed to pick out I felt my cheeks redden further – either this guy had practiced his flirting a lot or he was very good at it.

"Um…thanks."

"So what do you want to do when you graduate?"

"Start my own business." That was the one thing I was certain of. The conviction in my voice seemed to impress Blaine – for a second we just looked at each other, trying to take the situation in, before I broke the silence.

"What about you?"

"Hey! I haven't finished asking about your life!" I grinned, making him grin back. It was much easier to talk to him now that I actually knew he wanted me to.

"We'll take it in turns. Me, then you."

"Ok, I can deal with that." I leant back in my chair and folded my arms, trying to look like I was quizzing him but still unable to wipe the grin off my face.

"So, where are you from?"

"Westerville, Ohio."

"Seriously?" The response caught him off guard. "That's like 2 hours away from me!"

"Where are you from?"

"Lima!"

"Oh wow, that _is_ close." I couldn't believe it. All this time, I'd been sitting in my bedroom whilst the man of my dreams had probably been doing the exact same thing 87 miles away.

"Amazing… So why did you come to New York?" Now he looked a little uncomfortable.

"Don't laugh." I didn't think I was capable of it. "I was trying to follow my dream. Of becoming a _Broadway star_." Blaine held up his hands like he was reading a glitzy sign, then his tone took on sarcasm and his posture dropped.

"You wanted to be famous?"

"Yeah. I loved performing. However not being able to afford college and not actually having a lot of talent can kind of be a barrier to things."

"_Hey_." I held out my hand but let it hover in the air, unsure what to do. "Don't say that. I'm sure you were fantastic."

"_Everybody_ is fantastic. Fantastic gets you awards at school and regional championships. It doesn't make you a star." This obviously wasn't an area Blaine was comfortable with. I stopped the conversation there and took another sip of my drink.

"I'm sorry. You probably didn't want to hear me whine and moan." Glancing up I saw him rubbing his temples, obviously annoyed at himself. "I love living in New York. And hey, maybe I didn't get my dream life, but not many people do. I just wish I had been good at _something_. Even if it wasn't performing, just _something_ I would be remembered for."

"Well that could still happen." I replied. "You're only twenty…"

"Three. Twenty three." Christ he was older. Did that make him more attractive?

"Exactly. You have your whole life ahead of you."

"Hmm. A life of serving coffee and occasionally getting a date." I tried to laugh at the joke but it was a little awkward. Thankfully our food arrived and we could distract ourselves with that for a few minutes.

"So have you dated anyone else recently?" Shoot, that was my bad topic. "Jeez, we seem to be hitting each other's sore spots pretty well tonight!" I tried to laugh again but the fish got caught in my throat so I coughed instead. Blaine went to pat me on the back but I waved him away.

"No, it's ok. I just, had a bad, experience recently." Don't ask how recently… Don't ask so I have to tell you it was months ago and I'm still not over it…

"Oh. What was his name?"

"Tyler. My friend Rachel set us up but it turns out he was a bit of a man whore. I was his third boyfriend."

"In a few weeks?"

"No, at the same time." Blaine's expression said it all. There was nothing quite as humiliating as walking into your boyfriend's flat to find him having a threesome with two other guys. I hadn't even been invited.

"Ouch." Ouch indeed. I hadn't been able to forgive Rachel for weeks. Although she hadn't known he was a total idiot.

"Well if it makes you feel any better I had an equally bad set up." My ears perked and I leaned in to listen more closely. "My co-worker set me up with a guy that wasn't even gay."

"What?"

"I know. He was new to town and just wanted some friends. I tried to kiss him and he ran away calling me a freak." Oh man. I wasn't sure which was worse. At least Blaine and I had something in common – we were both unlucky in love.

"That sucks…" For a second I looked at my fork nervously, not knowing how I was supposed to continue. Then suddenly Blaine grabbed hold of my hand. He linked our fingers together gently and then held them there, just resting on the table. It was nice.

The rest of dinner was amazing. Blaine and I talked for hours – long after the food had come and gone. I didn't want to leave but he had a shift the next day so we had to depart around 10pm.

As we waited by the taxi area I could feel the knot building in my stomach – the feeling that I had to do something to seal this date off. We'd held hands on the table but now Blaine's were busy typing something on his phone. I turned around to face him.

"I had fun tonight." He looked up and smiled.

"Me too."

"Do you…do you want to do it again?" Blaine laughed.

"Of course. Why would I pass up the opportunity to spend more time with McKinley High's 2011 prom queen?" His grin widened and I gave him a little shove – the feeling of our bodies touching sending a slight shiver through me.

"So I'll call you then?"

"Not if I call you first." Suddenly Blaine put his phone back in his pocket and stood facing me. He shuffled his feet slightly so our chests bumped together and then gingerly placed his hands round my waist.

"Is it ok if I kiss you?" He asked, all of a sudden very nervous. I smiled.

"Not if I kiss you first." Without waiting another second I leant forward and pressed my lips to his. It was a chaste kiss – no tongue, no groaning – as much as I wanted to. But it was perfect. When we broke away I stared into Blaine's eyes and knew it was the first of many.

* * *

_AN: If anyone is interested in making any graphics for this or any of my __other _stories please let me know, apparently it's advised you get them now on this site. I would make them myself but I don't have photoshop :D


	4. Chapter 4 Blaine

****_Sorry about the delay guys - real life getting in the way again! This chapter is a little short but I like it a lot :D_

_Liz xxx_

* * *

**Chapter 4**

For a second Kurt's eyes glazed over. It was only for a fraction of a second – something nobody else would have noticed. But I did.

"It was one hell of a kiss." Now his eyes flashed to me again, this time filled with hatred.

"I've had better." It was funny how Kurt hated me. He'd always claimed to be the biggest romantic – swooning the most at my loving gestures, painting our future together. Hell – he'd even been the one to coin that stupid thing about me being Prince Charming. I knew I was a softie but Kurt had been the softest, something to do with being younger and more immature I guess. But despite all his gushiness he was equally capable of being extremely vindictive.

"Me too." Of course I hated him just as much – perhaps more. But he was the most outward about it.

"Yeah right." Kurt shuffled in his seat, scoffing and folding his arms. "Like Natasha?" My face fell. Brian shot me a worried look – body poised to jump in if I got angry. Steve also looked worried, for once leaving the safe bubble that seemed to surround his laptop. But I wasn't going to be defeated that easily.

"I wasn't talking about a different person."

* * *

"Oh God Blaine." As Kurt slammed into the open doorway I followed swiftly, pressing my body hard into his. He tried to fumble for his keys but I stuck my tongue in his mouth and my hand on his ass and such thoughts were quickly forgotten.

"_Kurt_ I want you so bad." Kissing him deeply as passionately I groaned, long sensual groans full of need and my boyfriend responded accordingly – fixing his arms round my neck and clutching my back muscles like they were life support.

Gradually we made our way inside, stumbling as we kept contact and feeling around with the one spare hand we had each to make it to the bed. There was so much stuff in Kurt's room – I'm surprised I didn't step on some fashion magazine or sewing kit. When I finally felt the softness of the covers I pushed Kurt gently and he fell backwards, taking me with him.

Things had progressed very swiftly since our first date. The first had lead to a second, then a third, fourth and fifth and now we were here. I liked Kurt – _a lot_ – he was funny, smart, charming and seemed to like me just as much as I did him. Not to mention he was the best kisser I had ever experienced.

"Blaine." As I lay on top of him, our feet still touching the floor, Kurt broke our mouths apart to breathlessly pant something. "What if Rachel comes in?"

"Who cares?" I smiled, moving my head back down to begin sucking on his neck and he moaned. Kurt had somehow managed to swing a mixed dormitory, with his best friend from home Rachel sharing with him. Maybe it was the fact that he was gay and as a result there wouldn't be any sexual activity (well, at least not between the two of _them_) or the generous donation his parents had made, but it had happened. I suppose I should be annoyed there was always the chance of the boisterous female turning up and spoiling our fun. To be honest I found it a major turn on.

"Blaine please…" Ignoring my boyfriend I lifted my body up so I could drag his legs onto the bed, then jumped up myself and hovered over him.

"Don't you find this incredibly hot?" He looked at me, confused.

"What?"

"The fact we're in a dorm – a _shared_ dorm. Is it just me?" For a second his eyebrows furrowed and I wondered if he understood. Then he smiled.

"This turns you on?" Oh God. I could feel myself blushing.

"Kinda." _Kinda._ You liar. You _lived_ for these moments. Kurt reached his hand up to run it slowly across the back of my neck, making me shiver.

"Well let's not waste any more time then." As he grinned the realisation slowly dawned – dropping back onto him I straddled his body with my legs and leant down to cup his face with my hands and kiss it as deeply as I possibly could. Kurt's hands ran down my back and then reached the bottom of my shirt – pulling it up over my head and then dropping it in favour of reaching for my pants.

"OHGOD!" Suddenly the sound of a shrill shriek filled the room. Jumping out of my skin I broke away to see Rachel standing in the doorway – her shopping bags now lying on the floor with their contents spilling out of them.

"Boys!" Letting out a deep sigh I rolled off my boyfriend – laying on the bed next to him with our bodies still touching.

"Sorry Rachel." Kurt didn't really sound too sorry, something that made me smile, and his roomie scrambled to pick up her things.

"You know if you're gonna, _do things_, you need some symbol. Like a sock on the door handle or something…"

"Rachel did we really step back into the seventies?" I laughed, leaning in to press a kiss to Kurt's cheek and then left my hand there to stroke it gently.

"No…but even so. Blaine is here _a lot_."

"You are aren't you?" As my boyfriend turned to look at me I wasn't sure if he was joking or not. "Why is that?"

"Well," I began, taking from his smile and the hand currently running down my back that I wasn't being grilled, "I guess I never got to experience this – being in a dorm. It makes me feel like I'm not missing out."

"Any other reason?" Biting his lip and transferring his hand to my bare chest Kurt's face drifted coyly towards mine. I grinned.

"Maybe one." Our lips met and I sighed in pleasure. Kurt rolled on top of me again and started deepening the kiss before the sound of a throat clearing cut us off.

"You know you seriously need to get laid Rachel." The squeak of Kurt's best friend made me laugh – I poked him in the chest and gave him a mock disdainful look even though I fully agreed.

"KURT! You can't just _say_ that!"

"But it's true. You do." For a second the brown haired girl was unable to speak, her face red and flustered as she fought for words.

"Well…well not all of us can randomly find Prince Charmings in coffee shops!" Throwing her hands in the air Rachel huffed and Kurt laughed.

As she began tidying up her side of the room I pulled Kurt close, still focusing on one thing she had said.

"It's fun to wind her up isn't it?"

"Do you really call me Prince Charming?" My boyfriend's face turned pink. I was whispering so Rachel couldn't hear and had our lips millimetres apart.

"Um…maybe. You did kinda sweep me off my feet." He tried to look away in embarrassment but I grabbed hold of his face, keeping it there so I could stare into his eyes.

"The same goes for you. The amount of sweeping you've done you should scrap fashion and become a janitor." Kurt laughed. His mouth stretched into a smile, showing off his pearly white teeth and his eyes became alive with happiness. "We're each other's Prince Charming." Closing the final few millimetres I kissed him lightly. Kurt closed his eyes, before opening them again as we broke away.

"Do you _really_ wanna piss Rachel off?" A devilish grin stretch across his face, eyes glancing quickly over to his best friend behind him, who was probably trying to ignore our sweet nothing whispering.

"Hell yeah." Feeling a hand press against my back I suddenly had lips on mine again, and a tongue pressing rapidly against my teeth.

"_Oh Blaine! OH BLAINE!"_ Realising what was happening I shifted my body in closer and played along.

"Yes Kurt! _YES _RIGHT THERE!" I let my hands run across his body, reaching for the bottom of his shirt, and then heard the annoyed shriek of Rachel behind us.

"THAT IS _IT!_" Bags were dropped back on the floor and the sound of stomping feet travelled across the room. As the door opened and she went to leave Kurt suddenly broke away for a second.

"Er Rachel," He said, still a little out of breath but grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Sock on the door please."


	5. Chapter 5 Kurt

**Chapter 5**

I didn't like this.

I didn't like us talking about these things.

It made it seem like Blaine was a nice person. That he had loved and cherished me just as much as I had him. It reminded me of all the times I had thanked God or whatever deity was up there that I'd walked into that coffee shop and stumbled across the man of my dreams.

He would probably make some other man extremely happy. That was what the point of this divorce was – to set us free so we could get on with our own lives and find actual happiness. Happiness that wasn't tainted with the past and the things we'd done. But we were stalling.

"I'd like to sign the papers now please." Suddenly I reached out for the set on my side of the desk, other hand signalling to Steve for the pen. I was about to draw them towards me when another hand smacked on top – holding them down.

"We're not finished yet." I stared up at the man, suddenly extremely angry.

"_Yes we are_."

"What are you scared of?" Blaine's voice flew across the room again and I shut my eyes, trying not to blow my top. "What are you so afraid of that you can't tell a few stories about our life before it ends?"

"I'm afraid that you're going to bore me so much I'm going to commit suicide." A quick snort echoed around us. Steve smacked his hand against his mouth, blushing scarlet red and I managed a small smile.

"Very funny Kurt. You're _hilarious_. But the longer you spend insulting me the longer we're gonna be in here." I glanced back at Steve, who had managed to calm himself down. Then I looked at the man. Annoyingly, Blaine was right.

"_Fine_. Let's get this over with."

"Good boy."

"Shut up."

"Your turn. Try not to bore me."

"I won't."

* * *

I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. The large fan was whirring above me, something I was very grateful for, and the paint around it was cracking – perhaps showing the last coat underneath. The sound of it hummed in my ears and mingled with the faint clatter of pots and pans from the other room.

"Kurt?" Suddenly a voice shouted out, only just audible. I snapped out of my daze.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want eggs?"

"Yes please." I relaxed again, immersing myself back in my quiet surroundings. Blaine's apartment wasn't the tidiest of places – or the most spacious. My dorm was probably bigger. But it had touches that reminded me very much if him. It was home.

A few minutes later my boyfriend appeared with two plates piled high with food. I got a waft of bacon and sat up, my mouth already watering.

"You didn't have to make me breakfast you know." I said as he sat down, taking my plate and shaking my head slightly.

"You were asleep."

"You could have woken me up." Blaine got into bed next to me, shifting in close and placing his own plate on the covers.

"I could never do that. You're too cute when you're asleep."

"Shut up." Blaine smiled, leaning over to press a soft but lingering kiss to my lips. I had to hold my plate out of the way so he wouldn't squash it, but was still disappointed when we broke away.

"Jeez. This looks good." I stared down at the eggs, bacon and sausage that lay before me. The edges of the bacon were slightly crisp but it still smelt delicious.

"Could you pass the syrup?" I looked around in confusion, before noticing the bottle on my bedside table and handing it over. Blaine squirted some on his food before leaning back over to place it back on the side.

"So what plans do you have today?" I glanced over, finishing my mouthful of eggs before replying.

"Um, not much. Got a paper due in on Wednesday but I don't have to start that until tomorrow. What about you?"

"Simon gave me the weekend off." My eyebrows rose. "_I know_. Something about me working too hard and needing a break. Plus the shop hasn't been too busy recently."

"Wow. That's good." Blaine smiled, cutting up a piece of sausage and sticking it in his mouth.

"Yeah." It was surprising – despite the amount of time we spent together it was very rare that Blaine and I had a whole 24 hours. I spent many a night at his apartment but it was usually followed by a quick exit the next morning as I rushed off to a lecture or workshop. Blaine sometimes working late at the coffee shop didn't help matters either.

"Do you want me to stay here today?" My boyfriend's eyes lit up.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why not? I don't have anywhere to be." He shot me a look. "_Today_."

"Well I would love that." Smiling so bits of food seeped through his teeth I pretended to gag and he laughed, squishing our shoulders together. As we ate the rest of our meal I realised this was the most relaxed I'd been in a very long time.

"So…" Once all our food had been demolished and out plates placed on the floor Blaine crawled onto me, a cheeky grin on his face. "What do we want to do today?" I grinned back.

"I can think of a few things…" Leaning forward I pulled his face to mine and kissed it. Blaine joined in and then climbed up further on top of me, his knee pressing into my stomach.

"Blaine! We just ate!" I pushed him off and he scowled, laying down so his head was resting near my bellybutton. I felt bad so pulled him up further and stroked his hair with my fingers.

"We'll do that later." Suddenly my boyfriend turned his head to look up at me, his eyes alive with a thought.

"We could have sex _all day_!" Haha. I laughed, gently pushing his face as he grinned back, but not totally rejecting the idea.

"That would certainly be something. Might get a bit tiring though."

"I think I have the stamina. Plus it would work off the bacon." I nuzzled my nose into his hair, pausing for a second to take a deep breath in of his smell. I know it was lame to treasure things like that, but the smell of Blaine just seemed to make me complete.

"How about…" I continued once I'd brought my head away, still playing with the gel free curls on his head, "we spend half the day having sex and half the day doing something else."

"Like kissing?" I smacked him on the head lightly.

"_No_. I mean something else. Like go out together and do something."

"So a date then."

"If you want to call it that." I liked to think we were past the dating point in our relationship. Dates were for people that courted – were still getting to know each other. Blaine and I had been 'dating' for nearly 5 months now.

"What would you call it then?" I cocked my head to the side.

"I would call it…an outing of two people that have been together a long time and care a lot about each other." Blaine stared at me for a second, processing what I had just said and then scrunched his nose.

"I think date sounds better." I squeezed my arms round his sides, making him chuckle and then kissed the top of his head. "So where do you want to go for this 'outing' then?" Now I had to think.

"Well…we could go to central park. Have a picnic or something?"

"With strawberries? We need to go to D'Agostino and get strawberries."

"Ok." I chuckled, rubbing the top of his head again. "Strawberries and chocolate."

"I am definitely liking the sound of this."

"Then we could buy some champagne too."

"What are we celebrating?" Blaine turned his head to look up at me and I smiled, staring into his eyes.

"Just, _us_."

"Ok." He settled his head back into my chest and looked up at the ceiling. "So when we're at Central Park having these strawberries and chocolate with champagne – will there be any violins playing?" Honestly Blaine – you always had to make things a joke.

"No." I replied, trying to sound annoyed but finding it too adorable to really try. "There will _not_ be any violins. Although you can try and imitate the sound if you like." Blaine suddenly brought up his arms and pretended to play it, making the most horrendous screeching noises so I put my hands over my ears and then pushed him to shut him up.

"Ok no violins. But there _will_ be light dappling through the trees and it _will_ be very romantic."

"Yes. It will." I bent down to press an upside down kiss to Blaine's lips and then he turned around to continue it properly.

"Sounds good." As we carried on kissing, my hand reaching round to wind into his hair and Blaine propping himself up with his free hand, I wondered if it got better than this. I mean, Blaine and I were only _talking_ about the things we wanted to do and it already made me the happiest person alive. Just spending time with him was all I really needed. Him and me, together, just _being_.

Suddenly Blaine broke away and I groaned in annoyance. He seemed to sense it but didn't return.

"Can I tell you something?" I paused, a little concerned by the question.

"Um, yeah, sure." He moved a little further up so he was almost sitting on me and ran his fingers through my hair.

"It's something I haven't told anyone before." I tried to seem like I wasn't freaking out. Was this the point where Blaine revealed himself as a drug lord, or that he was actually a time traveller from space and I was about to be whisked off to some far away galaxy? Without realising it my hands had started to shake and my boyfriend grabbed hold of them, bringing them up to his mouth to kiss.

"Are you ok?" I nodded, trying not to make my lip tremble.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tell me." Blaine took a deep breath, staring deep into my eyes before he finally spoke.

"I love you."

For a second I didn't say anything – still waiting for the revelation that would either make me hate Blaine or him leave me. But it never came. I opened my eyes and he was staring back at me, suddenly extremely worried.

"What did you say?"

"Please don't make me repeat it again." It looked like he was on the verge of tears. "Not if you don't feel the same way."

"You _love _me?" I could feel him gripping onto my hand, trying desperately to hold on and keep me with him. "You _LOVE_ me?" This was…this was amazing. Blaine, Blaine _loved_ me. He had me in his heart and he thought of me every day and Christ this was the feeling I had every day too. Stronger and stronger every moment.

"I love you too!" Now it was his turn to look confused.

"Really?" Oh of course I do you big doofus! I love you more than anything in the world. Not wanting to say anything else I crushed my lips to his – releasing our hands to wrap them around his body and pull him tightly to me, never letting go. Blaine did the same and we were locked in a tight embrace, kissing hard and fast and deeper than we ever had in our entire lives.

I loved Blaine.

He loved me.

We loved each other.


	6. Chapter 6 Blaine

_Sorry for the huge delay guys - basically I was looking for a teaching job and that took up all of my time. Thankfully as of Friday I am now in the ranks of the employed so I can get on with my other job of writing! Also I would have posted this yesterday but I was following the ff blackout. Enjoy_

_Liz xxx_

* * *

**Chapyer 6**_  
_

The man looked at Kurt. The way he was sitting was very casual but he still fixed him with an imposing gaze.

"Why did you choose that story?" Kurt seemed confused by the question, shuffling nervously in his seat.

"Well, telling someone you love them is the most important part of a relationship isn't it?"

"What about when you tell someone you don't love them? Are we going to tell that one as well?" I couldn't resist the snap – I'd been holding off for so long and Kurt took the bait expertly.

"Oh shut it Mr chronological! You're the one that wanted to do everything in fucking order!" It was amazing how I could rile him up like that. For the rest of the time Kurt was very solemn, quiet – but when he was shouting at me he really seemed to come out of his shell.

"Guys quieten down please." Steve tried to calm us down but was shot the most menacing look by his client I had ever seen – it almost made me laugh. He withdrew into his seat and suddenly became ver interested in something on his laptop. Then Kurt looked back at me again.

"Come on, you know what story is next. My birthday."

"But that's _your_ birthd-"

"-Just tell the fucking story Blaine!" Well. I wasn't going to argue with that.

* * *

My eyes became accustomed to the room again as I wiped away the water I had just splashed in my face and stared up into the mirror to survey my appearance. I looked tired – I hadn't exactly got much sleep last night. Kurt had spent ages babbling on about what he should wear for his party and eventually I'd had to quietly tell him to shut up. He was still at it now – rushing around his room like a headless chicken. Rachel was desperately trying to help and probably begrudging the fact that I was getting away from it in here.

"Do you think this tie will work with this shirt?" Suddenly my boyfriend rushed into the room. His face looked flustered and his hair was sticking up all over the place as he held up a blue bow tie. When I took too long to answer he became even worse.

"Well Blaine? Will it?"

"Baby," I began, walking slowly over and placing my hands on his shoulders, "you'll look amazing no matter what you wear." Smiling I tried to make him see sense – Kurt relented at first but eventually his shoulders sagged and his expression softened.

"Thanks." He whispered. I leant forward and pressed a kiss to his lips.

"Plus, nobody's really going to be looking at you – I mean, it's not like it's your _birthday_ or anything." I gave his shoulder a squeeze, walking out of the room before I could receive the inevitable thump that would come my way.

Eventually we left the dorms and made our way to the sports hall. It didn't seem a very artistic place to hold a birthday party but Kurt's friends had done a good job of making it seem like an entirely different place. A very camp looking entirely different place. I was surprised how many people had actually turned up – it wasn't even a special age. My boyfriend's parents were meeting him there so we scanned the crowds that had already gathered before spotting them in the corner.

"Mom! Dad!" Kurt ran over, leaving me and Rachel to follow behind. I'd already met the Hummel-Hudsons several times so greeted them with a warm smile and a hug for Carole.

"Hi Mrs Hummel-Hudson, Mr Hummel-Hudson."

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Burt before you actually do?" Kurt's Dad held out his hand and I shook it with a laugh. Of course I'd been calling him Burt to Kurt, but I still thought it was courteous to mark him out as my superior. It could come in handy when I wanted to ask a specific question.

"Sorry, Burt."

"I don't think we intend on staying long at this thing," He continued, gazing around the hall like he was watching an alien landing, "we just want to see Kurt's designs." The fashion students in my boyfriend's class had all clubbed together and decided to model the clothes he'd made – there was a runway set up at the other end of the hall and it all looked rather jazzy.

"Come on Blaine!" Before I even had a chance to reply to his father Kurt grabbed hold of my arm and dragged me off, leaving only time to give an apologetic wave goodbye.

Kurt had so many friends. It made me pine a little for my own college experience, or lack of it. I'd been a fairly popular guy at high school and had my friends at the East Street Bean, but sometimes even they got a little boring. I'd put so much of my time and effort into my relationship with Kurt I'd kind of forgotten he had a life too.

"Are you looking forward to the fashion show?" A fellow fashion student – Colin I think his name was – asked the question and Kurt immediately nodded his head emphatically.

"Oh yes! I can't wait!"

"What about you Blaine?" I couldn't tell if the way he looked at me was genuinely friendly or a bit leering – I decided to go with the latter and put my arm round Kurt as I spoke.

"Of course. Now I get to see my boyfriend be even _more_ amazing." Kurt giggled, nuzzling into me and Colin's face fell slightly. I kissed the top of his head and then stroked his hair, feeling through the hairspray to try and find the soft strands underneath.

"Stop it." He murmured. For a second it felt like we were back in my apartment instead of in a busy crowd of people.

"Ssssh. It's gonna be awesome."

The show was fantastic. Kurt's designs were really good and his friends did a brilliant job of modelling them – Colin pulling out the campest performance I had ever seen. In our prime spots on top table Kurt, his parents and I laughed till we cried and clapped till our hands were sore. I didn't want it to end, but when it did was suddenly tapped on the shoulder by Carole.

"Blaine, can we see you for a second?"

Oh God. Was this something bad? Was I being asked to break up with him? I couldn't think why, especially after Kurt had practically sat in my lap for the whole show, but the thought still flashed through my mind. I looked to my boyfriend for support but he was currently being mobbed by his friends – taking a deep breath I nodded my head and followed the Hummel-Hudsons outside.

The air on the courtyard was cold – I shivered and pulled my jacket further round me. Burt had already given Carole his coat and I could tell he was freezing, although he was trying his hardest not to let it show. For a second we stood there in silence and I tried desperately to figure out the mood of the situation. It didn't seem negative but I couldn't be sure. These things had a habit of creeping up on you.

"Kurt will be here in a second." Carole suddenly said, glancing over at me. Oh, so Kurt was involved? Surely that couldn't be bad then. They wouldn't make me break up with him right in front of them…

"I'm sure you're wondering why we brought you here." I nodded, sending a small smile in Burt's direction.

"A little, yeah." Our conversation was interrupted by a door opening and Kurt rushing over towards us.

"Jeez, it's a bit cold isn't it?" He said, immediately coming up to me and huddling in close. "Did we have to do this out here?"

"Carole and I need to head off in a bit so we wanted to make it quick." What _was_ going on here? I was beyond confused and nobody seemed to think something bad was happening. Was Burt expecting me to propose _now_?

"Can we tell him now?" Kurt looked excited and squeezed my hand. I looked in the same direction as him and Burt took a deep breath.

"Ok. You and Kurt have been together for a while now. Carole and I have seen you grow and how committed you are to each other." Oh God. They were going to make me propose. I thought _I_ was the person that was supposed to ask permission…

"Kurt told us about how you never went to college…" I was so scared about what was coming next that I wasn't listening properly – Carole's words floating right over my head. Was I ready for this? I didn't even have a ring… "About how you never got your dream of being on stage."

"What would you like to do if you couldn't be famous?" Suddenly Kurt was talking. He was so close I had to listen and I realised he was asking me a question.

"Um…I dunno." We had talked about this – Kurt had asked a lot about my future and what I wanted to do with it. "I guess I'd love to work in finance." For a while now I'd been but in charge of the East Street Bean's accounts – Benny had retired and I'd found I was really good at it. Not only that, I _enjoyed_ it.

"So that's your dream?" I nodded my head.

"My new dream, yes." Kurt looked over at Burt again. Suddenly a proposal didn't seem so much on the cards.

"Now you know Blaine that Carole and I aren't exactly short of money," Mr Hummel was wringing his hands nervously, but his face looked like a father expressing something to his son, "and we've helped Kurt a lot with his college education. We want him to get the best life experience possible. And you are very much a part of that. So seeing as you're practically part of the family now…"

"THEY WANT TO PAY FOR YOUR EDUCATION!" The exclamation was so loud I nearly jumped out of my skin. Kurt seemed a little unnerved by my reaction – his eyes staring down at my hands, which were now gripping him tightly. What had he just said?

"W-w-what?"

"We want to pay for you to go to college Blaine. So you can follow your dream too." I glanced briefly over at Carole – my eyes wide and my body still in the same position it had been for the past 40 seconds or so. What did this mean? Did it mean that…?

"You're going to be an accountant!" No way. This wasn't happening.

"I understand this will be a bit of a shock to you." Burt was smiling as he spoke, obviously taking my reaction as a positive, but I immediately shook my head.

"You can't do this Mr Anderson, you can't. It's too much."

"Blaine I-"

"-But it's not too much at all!" Suddenly Kurt took hold of my face, bringing it towards his and keeping me there so I had to look him straight in the eye. "We talked about this for a _long time_. We discussed how much money it was and we all agreed that you were worth it. For me. _You are worth it for me_."

For a second I just stopped. I stopped and stared into the eyes of the man I loved – the man who was completely crazy but was setting my life out for me on a golden platter, with him right there beside me.

"I'll pay you back." I turned to Burt, still gripping onto Kurt's hand as tightly as I could, my heart pounding as the realisation of what I was doing hit me. "I'll pay it all back."

"If that works for you, then I hope you do." He smiled, the smile of the father I never really had. Then I turned back and saw the smile of the man I always had.

"I guess I'm going to college."


	7. Chapter 7 Kurt

**Chapter 7**

"There you go." For some reason Blaine hadn't seemed to like retelling that story. I don't know if it was down to that being the start of the end, but he'd looked uncomfortable throughout the whole of it. Surprisingly this didn't make me happy.

"What?" I replied, not really understanding why I was saying it.

"That's the story. The one you wanted."

"Does this story have any kind of special significance?" Suddenly the man spoke again – my attention was directed back to him and I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I'd almost forgotten he was there.

"Yes."

"Of course it does. It was the point where Kurt decided he was a self-entitled bastard that had complete control over my life."

"Hey!" Flashing my head back to my soon-to-be-ex husband my annoyance ran through. "That money was a donation to _you_ – not for me."

"Yeah right." I wasn't going to continue this argument. We'd gone over it so many times it was like opening up and old wound that would never properly heal.

"Well we might as well continue with the aftermath." I continued, looking back at the man who nodded his head and motioned for me to go on.

"Please do."

* * *

I couldn't stop fidgeting in my seat. Professor Green was saying something but I couldn't pay any attention because my brain wouldn't stop whirring.

"_Kurt_." Hearing a hiss of my name I turned my head to see Rachel glaring at me – her page already full of notes. "_Give it a rest_."

"What?"

"Your incessant _moving_! It's driving me nuts!" Oh. Shoot. I tried to steady myself but my head wouldn't cooperate. It felt like I was awaiting the results of a really important test, or about to see someone I hadn't spoken to in a long time. Eventually the lecture turned into a break and Rachel immediately slammed her book shut and frowned at me.

"Stop fretting."

"But it's his first day!" I knew I was going to get that look. I knew I was stupid for even worrying in the first place. But I couldn't help it.

"He's going to _college _Kurt. Not taking his first steps."

"But it's his first day!" I was worried. Worried that he wouldn't make any friends. Worried that he would hate the course. Worried that he didn't want to go to college and be an accountant at all and was only doing it because Dad and I had thrown a load of money and guilt tripped him into going.

"Why hasn't he texted me?"

"He's probably too busy chatting with his new accountant buddies about money or something." I could tell Rachel wasn't too bothered with the whole situation and knew she was right. Blaine probably _was _busy with his new friends. But I wanted him to be ok.

"Have you spoken to him about moving in?" I shook my head, now thinking about the other scenario that had begun to cloud my mind. After 15 months of dating I had figured we were past the stage of staying round each other's houses – I wanted a house of our own. A house that I could keep my designs in and cook dinner for Blaine when he came home from a hard days work of juggling numbers. _Our_ house.

"I think he kinda likes being in a dorm." That pleasure had been one of the greatest. Seeing Blaine step into his first ever dorm room – _his_ dorm room, not mine – had put the biggest smile on my face I had ever seen.

"Ah. But surely an apartment would be bigger?"

"I know…" Twirling my pen round my fingers I stared off into space – visualising what colour the curtains would be in our front room and how I could accentuate the high ceilings.

Eventually the hours ticked round and I rushed out of our seminar room, eager to get to the NYU campus before Blaine finished. The subway was being extra slow and I cursed it repeatedly under my breath until finally I was walking through the bustling corridors towards his lecture theatre. I still hadn't heard anything from him, so was a little apprehensive when all the students began to file, until I saw his face and immediately felt more at ease.

"Blaine!" Calling out and waving my arms my boyfriend looked up – having been engaged in a conversation with a tall gangly looking student – and our eyes met. The expression change was immediate.

"Kurt!" Leaving his friend behind Blaine rushed over, closing the gap until suddenly his arms were around me, squeezing me tight and surrounding me with his warmth. Once we'd hugged for a considerable enough time I pushed him back a little so I could press the kiss I'd been wanting to give all day to his lips. Somehow it seemed even better than usual – whether it was the fact it was slightly earlier than our pre-college meet up times or just that I'd missed him. He tasted like happiness.

"Hey baby." I said once we'd broken away – our faces still hovering inches away from each other and beaming smiles on both our lips. Blaine stroked the back of my neck with his fingers and stared into my eyes.

"You didn't have to come pick me up." He said, although I could tell the gesture meant a lot to him.

"I wanted to." After kissing me again my boyfriend pulled away to point at the guy he'd previously been talking to – who amazingly had stuck around to watch our canoodling.

"This is Tyler." The boy stepped forward and held out his hand. I met it with mine – one arms still wrapped around Blaine. "Tyler this is my boyfriend Kurt,"

"Hi." I greeted him happily and he smiled back, shaking my hand strongly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Blaine's told me all about you." I pretended to look worried and Blaine laughed.

"Only good things I hope." He squeezed my side with his hand and nudged my cheek with his nose.

"Of course."

"Are you heading off now or do you want to go to the library?" Tyler motioned towards the open door with his hand – I glanced up at Blaine and saw him dithering, his eyes drifting back to me.

"Um…" 'Do we have any plans?' The silent message was relayed to me. Of course I did have plans but wasn't going to stand in the way of his first friendship.

"Well er…"

"How about I meet you in about an hour or so?" Ah. So _Blaine_ had plans. I had to hide to wry smile for Tyler's sake, simply squeezing my boyfriend's hand and trying to not get excited. Tyler nodded and arranged a meeting point, before heading off and leaving us alone.

"You ready to go?"

"So the library eh? Studying on your first day?" I smiled and nudged Blaine as we walked back to his dorms. My boyfriend blushed and looked embarrassed.

"Well yeah. Accounting is a little harder than pinning together a few bits of fabric."

"Hey!" I slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "Fashion can be hard too!"

"I know."

"Well don't go spending all your time with your new friends and forget about me." I rubbed his knuckles with my fingers and Blaine stopped, pulling me in close.

"I would never do that. After all – you're the reason I got them in the first place." Smiling I leant in and he pressed a soft kiss to my lips, sighing as we pulled away.

"Back to the dorm…"

As Blaine fumbled with his keys I was brought back to the similar situations we'd had during my third college year. I was so happy that Blaine was getting to experience the same things I had and it made my heart sing to see how much he enjoyed it. Once the door was finally open we both walked inside and Blaine slung his bag on the floor.

"When does Jim get back?" I asked, putting my own bag down beside the door.

"Not till late. He has football practice." For a second I was brought back to the frequent fantasy I had about Blaine in football gear – how big and strong he would look in those pads…

"Have you ever thought about joining?" My boyfriend laughed.

"No. I mean, I played a little lacrosse during high school but sports were never really my thing." I smiled, watching him begin to prepare a cup of coffee for both of us before sidling up behind him and putting my hands round his waist.

"So, if you're roommate is gone for a while then…" I whispered the words in his ear before lightly dipping my tongue in – Blaine immediately shivered and I smiled, doing it again. My hands began to slip towards his hips – circling the bones with my fingers and then gently turning him round. He was like putty in my hands.

"Mmmn…" Closing his eyes as I continued to caress his waist, Blaine leant forward and rested his nose against my cheek, lips feeling without looking for mine and then connecting deeply, tongue slipping in immediately. I groaned and he began to lightly trace the inside of my mouth – his own hands reaching up to wrap round my neck and wedge in my hair.

"Blaine…" I tightened my grip and he did the same, our bodies pressing together to try and get the most contact possible. When I began to pull us towards the bed I was met with no resistance and felt his weight press on top of me with immense satisfaction.

People always said in movies that it was like the missing puzzle piece slotting in when you were with that special person – it sounded stupid but right then it really did. We weren't exactly going for it, long lazy kisses that were strong but not urgent, just taking the other in completely and revelling in it. But it was perfect.

When we'd finally run out of energy Blaine rolled off of me, staring up at the ceiling of his dorm and trying to catch his breath. I watched him lie there for a minute or so before resting my hand on his chest so he turned and looked at me. His eyes were so beautiful I wanted to cry.

"Can I show you something?" My boyfriend seemed a little surprised, shifting a little more onto his side so my hand slipped down to rest against him.

"Yeah, sure." I wondered how to phrase the next sentence.

"It's just a little place I've been looking at. For us." Blaine's eyes widened. "I mean, I know you've only just moved into your dorm and I want you to experience everything college has to offer, but-"

"-Yes." I stopped, startled by the sudden reply.

"Pardon?"

"Yes." Blaine smiled, taking hold of my hand with his. "Yes I'd love to look at it. Where is it?" For a second I was too flustered to reply – the realisation taking a while to creep over.

"Um, well it's downtown – equi-distant from our colleges. We could take the subway and still get there in 15 minutes."

"Is it nice?"

"Of, of course it's nice." For some reason I was getting emotional – Blaine was grinning and nudged his nose against mine happily. "Do you, do you really want to live with me? I thought I'd have to do more persuading."

"Kurt, it would be my honour." I stared into his eyes again – letting myself get lost in him and the moment – and smiled.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For just being you." Suddenly Blaine reached over me for my phone, which had been discarded along with my jacket.

"Do you have any pictures of it?" As he unlocked it I nodded, taking it from him and flicking through my files to find them. When they were found we both sat up and nestled together, looking at the next stage of our life and chatting excitedly about how we would make it a reality.


	8. Chapter 8 Kurt?

_Hey guys. I just wanted to say that I know I don't do author notes that much in my stories, but I needed to let you all know how amazed I am at all the lovely comments and reviews this story has been given. I knew this idea would be exciting but I never expected people to like is as much as they have! Thank you so much to everyone that has read and reviewed this story so far - I love and appreciate you all :D_

_Also I have been talking to some of my readers on tumblr recently and we have been having a jolly good time :D if you want to join the party my url is lizloz_

_Now here is a super long chapter for you all!_

_Liz xxx_

* * *

__**Chapter 8**

"Well that was just _charming_." Kurt looked across at me and I saw the hurt flash through his eyes – the split second reaction followed immediately by a glare of hate.

"I intended it to be."

"Kurt Hummel saves the day _yet again_ with his never-ending pot of cash." It was petty to bring up the money thing, but it was true – this was what had caused all our problems in the first place. Money was something Kurt had always had and I hadn't. It was one of the reasons we'd turned out the way we had.

"Shut up Blaine. I didn't hear you complaining about it when we were together."

"That's because I was under the impression it was _our_ money – you know, because we were a _team_." I'd earnt just as much as him, if not more by the end.

"Oh _please_."

I could see Brian getting restless beside me. The pen he had in his hand was currently being clicked on and off repeatedly. It was obvious why he was stressed – we hadn't even gotten to the bad parts yet.

"You have another story to tell now?" The man spoke, taking control of the situation and bringing it back to its point. Oh yes, the continuation of our lovefest.

"Yeah, I know which one comes next." I shifted slightly forward, ready to begin talking again, but Kurt suddenly held up his hand.

"No."

I paused.

"Um, what?"

"No." I glanced over at Brian, who seemed as perplexed as I was, and then at Steve, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Excuse me? Am I not being given permission to talk now?" Kurt's face stayed blank.

"I want to tell this one." Woah now.

"I'm sorry – I thought you didn't like all this story bullshit? And anyway it's my turn now, if you tell another one it breaks the pattern."

"Oh fuck the stupid pattern! Why does it matter anyway the story's the same no matter who it comes from."

"Which is exactly why I should-"

"-Do you want to know what it's like to be proposed to?" Silence descended across the room. Nobody was moving – not even the man. I stared across at Kurt for a couple of seconds, before slowly nodding my head.

* * *

I stood in the bathroom putting the final touches to my moisturising. The mirror needed to be cleaned – I couldn't tell if the black dots were my pores or marks on the surface. I would have to do something about that.

"Blaine?" Calling out absentmindedly I continued rubbing in the cream, working almost vigorously. When I heard no reply I stopped.

"Blaine?" Hmph. My boyfriend was still asleep. I'd paid a lot of money to get the best mattress and sheets for our bed – but as a result he never seemed to want to rise from them. When still no noise sounded from the other room I decided to take action, placing my moisturiser container down on the side and walking back through the bathroom door.

My assumption had been completely correct – Blaine was still bunched up in his sheets, completely out for the count. As I approached I wiped my still damp hands on my trousers and then straightened out a crease on my shirt.

"Blaine." Finally, as I was only metres away, he seemed to stir. There was small movement – a turning of the head very slightly to see who had spoken. Then a large groan echoed around the room.

"Nnnnngh." I smiled.

"There you are." Blaine groaned again, moving his head to press deep into the cushion he'd been lying on, obviously trying to block me out.

"Mmmmph." A chuckle escaped from my lips – putting a knee on the edge of the bed I slowly climbed on top of my boyfriend and lowered down my body so it was flush against his.

"Time to wake up." My voice was sing-songey and I knew Blaine didn't like it, he groaned for about the fifty-millionth time but I carried on, running my finger down the side of his neck so he turned to half face me again.

"Why get up…want to stay in bed…"

"Blaine, it's my graduation today." Suddenly it seemed to click. My boyfriend turned round properly, his face now looking surprised.

"Wha-what? Today?"

"Yes silly." I grinned, leaning down to kiss him softly and he lazily returned it. "You need to get ready."

"Shit." Laughter split from me again – Blaine began to try and sit up but I pressed him down, my hands either side of him on the bed.

"Hey, where's my good morning kiss?" My smirk made him smile back, suddenly a hand slipped round the back of my neck and our lips connected deeply. I let myself revel in the feeling for a few seconds – wishing more than ever that I could just lie here and continue it until the end of time – before slowly and sadly breaking away.

"Ok, time to get moving." As I rolled off my boyfriend and back onto my feet Blaine hauled himself upright, shuffling to the edge of the bed and rubbing his face with his hands vigorously. It was only 9:15am, but if we wanted to catch the subway to be on campus on time we'd have to be quick.

"Are you gonna have a shower?" I asked, about to return to the bathroom. Blaine nodded, before he suddenly looked up at me hopefully.

"Want to join me?"

"Blaine I'm already dressed." As he surveyed my clothed and washed appearance I saw the sad look spread across his face – sighing I darted in to grab my moisturiser and rubbed him on the shoulder once I returned.

"No shower sex this morning."

Eventually my boyfriend padded off to get himself cleaned - I finished the final touches to my face and then stared out of the window at the streets outside. _I was graduating_. It was a hard concept to grasp, especially at this moment. Four years of blood sweat and tears, working my ass off for this one final moment. Where had I been four years earlier? Tired, depressed, alone except for Rachel and the few people that hadn't decided to bully me in high school. And now, now I was living in an apartment in New York City with the love of my life.

When Blaine emerged from the shower his hair was still wet. He rubbed at it with a towel and then shook a few water droplets over me, which I very much protested at.

"Hey! Get dressed, we need to go soon."

"Well one second I need to decide what I-" My boyfriend had been about to go on, but stopped at the sight of a set of clothes neatly laid out on the bed. He stepped forward, almost checking to see if they were his, then looked at me.

"You picked out my _clothes_?" I had to blush slightly. Blaine and I spent so much time together now I could pretty much predict what he would put on every morning. Or what I would take off…

"Yes…" As I grinned sheepishly and ground the point of my shoe into the carpet Blaine sighed, picking up the clothes and examining them.

"That shirt is your favourite one, it goes really well with those pants and you said because that jacket was new you would save it for a special occasion." I couldn't help but continue, pointing out each individual item as I spoke and then looking at him, hopefully. "And this would be one…" Oh _come on_. I was freaking majoring in fashion. For a second Blaine looked at me, as if he were trying to process what I had just said. Then his face softened and he looked at me with endearing eyes.

"You're right." He said. "This is a special occasion."

Soon we were both dressed and ready to go. The subway was busy and I made sure I stayed close to my protector – one hand grasping onto the bag with my robes and the other tightly gripping onto his as we juddered and jolted through the underground streets to reach our destination.

If the subway was busy then campus was even busier, with students everywhere trying to put the finishing touches to their robes or outfits. This was a fashion course – nobody was going to look the same.

"Do we want to head over to the green?" Blaine looked to me for conformation, waiting to hear what I wanted to do. We were supposed to be meeting my family but I wasn't sure if they would be late.

"Um, yeah ok – wait, there they are!" My hand shot out, pointing to the figures of Dad and Carole making their way through the crowds, still lost in the atmosphere and oblivious to our whereabouts. "Dad! Carole!" Luckily my voice could be heard over the mêlée – they spotted us and made their way over. Dad had really made an effort, busting out his best suit that I knew had cost a complete fortune.

"Hey son." He said, holding out his arms and smiling proudly at me. I let go of Blaine's hand to immerse myself in them and sighed, happy to be surrounded by his calming aura again.

"What happened to your robes?" Carole joked, I glanced back but Blaine was already ready with a reply.

"Do you think Kurt would want them covering up his outfit for the whole day?" We all chuckled, Blaine smiling lovingly at me and I blew him a kiss, before finally righting myself again.

"Where's Finn?" My eyes scanned the surrounding crowds for any gatherings that might have occurred but I couldn't see any of major significance.

"He's gonna be a bit late. Traffic problems." I sighed, mirroring the expression of Dad, but he rubbed my shoulder comfortingly. "He'll be there." I hoped so.

Soon proceedings had to move on so we were ushered towards the theatre that would provide the location for our ceremony. Blaine had been locked in conversation with Carole so hadn't had much of a chance to speak to me – as we made our way up he moved to walk next to me and slipped his fingers between mine.

"Are you nervous?" I looked at him, nodding and swallowing loudly.

"Yes." For a second our eyes locked and I was filled with a sudden sense of ease – like everything was going to be ok. Blaine smiled, leaning forward to press a rather bumpy kiss to my head considering we were still walking.

"You'll be great. I know you will."

Once we reached the theatre I was made to be split up from the rest – Blaine seemed a little reluctant to let go but we shared a long lingering kiss and I promised I would look for him whilst I was up on stage. He was stupid to think otherwise. As I watched him walk off with my parents it struck me just how much he had become a part of this family. I knew he would have no problem talking about his studies and how well they were going, especially the internship at Finkel and Sons that was on the cards. If we weren't so desperately in love I would say he was almost like my brother. Which was more than could be said for Finn.

"Kurt!" Suddenly I was brought out of my daydream by the sound of Rachel calling my name. She rushed over, looking flustered but very much excited, her eyes bright and sparkling.

"Oh my God Kurt we're_ GRADUATING!_" I laughed, accepting her hug and even jumping around a little. When we broke away she took hold of my hand.

"Can you believe this? That we did it together?"

"No, to be honest I can't." We both smiled at each other, remembering all the struggles and heartache we had been through together, and how it had finally lead to this moment.

"Shall we go?"

"Is Finn here?" As we queued up to get into position Rachel asked the question I had been waiting for her to bring up ever since we'd seen each other. She tried to make it casual but I could tell it obviously wasn't.

"No, not yet. He's stuck in traffic." It hurt a little to see the slight sadness in her expression – the memories of their relationship still fresh in her mind even after 4 long years.

"I'm sorry, I would have hung out with you guys beforehand but I didn't want him to be there."

"It's no problem." I squeezed her hand, making her glance back appreciatively at me.

"Is Blaine with your Mom and Dad?" Now it was my time to sigh.

"Yeah." It was pretty sad that despite the grandeur of this moment, all I was really looking forward to was snuggling back into bed with him at the end of the day.

"Why couldn't I find someone like him? Someone kind and considerate and completely _gorgeous_ that wasn't a self-obsessed idiot." I laughed at Rachel's sulking, squeezing her hand again as she tried to remain annoyed.

"Finn's not self-obsessed. It's not his fault everyone worships the ground he walks on."

"But, but, Blaine buys you flowers and takes you out to fancy dinners and makes you happy!"

"Yeah, with _my_ money." It was true though. Blaine really did make me happy. I was damn lucky to have found him.

"Come on, I'm not having you moping on the biggest day of our lives!" Shaking my body so hers shook too I smiled, jumping up and down and psyching myself up for what was about to happen, in front of hundreds of proud people. "We are gonna do this and it's gonna be _amazing_."

It was. I was used to crowds but stepping out onto that stage my heart had almost dropped out of my mouth. Desperately trying not to make a fool of myself I strode over to the podium, shaking hands with Professor Green and then holding my diploma in the air. As I walked off I frantically scanned the crowds until finally I picked him out – on his feet cheering, his eyes full of love as my parents waved equally as enthusiastically next to him.

The after party was huge. The sports hall had once again been taken over but this time there were even more people that at my birthday party – all crammed in chatting excitedly about the ceremony. I found Blaine as soon as I could and immediately threw my arms around him, feeling him pick me up and spin me round excitedly.

"You did it! You graduated!" Not wanting to say anything yet I pressed my lips to his, kissing him deeply and passionately for as long as I possibly could. When we broke away I kept our faces close, my arms tight around his neck.

"I love you. I never would have got through these years without your help. I love you." The words had never been truer. Blaine smiled, one hand reaching up to stroke my cheek.

"I love you too baby." Suddenly there was a loud kerfuffle, the sound of squeals and 'ohmygods'. I turned towards the noise, still gripping onto my boyfriend as tightly as I could, and then, sighing, noticed the source.

"Finn." My brother was currently being mobbed by a throng of excited girls, some of them actually trying to hold onto his clothes as he pushed his way through. I could see by the look on his face he was loving it, his eyes scanning the crowd and taking in the adoration. Trust my only sibling to steal my thunder.

"Hey Finn!" Blaine's voice echoed over the crowd, I almost told him to be quiet but Finn noticed us and immediately made his way over.

"Hey bro!" Holding out his hand I went for a hi-five, but had mine crushed and yanked upwards into some weird kind of bro-hug. He had only got stronger over these years and I dreaded to think what it would be like being tackled by him on the field.

"You graduated!" Finn did look genuinely happy for me – he was beaming from ear to ear and so far had ignored every fan that had tried to muscle their way in with a football or playing card to sign.

"Yeah, I did. Did you make the ceremony?" I almost didn't want to ask the question. I hadn't seen him with the rest of my family so had assumed there was something more important that had taken up his busy schedule.

"Of course I did! I stood at the back so I wouldn't make a scene – wouldn't want to spoil my little bro's big moment!" He hugged me again and I was actually surprised. He'd come. _And_ he'd been considerate.

"I still can't believe it! Hey Blaine man how's it going?" Suddenly attention was detracted to Blaine – my boyfriend received the compulsory fist bump and smiled, somehow more tolerant of my elder brother's ways than I was.

"It's going great thanks."

"Dude you must be so proud!" Slipping his hand round my waist again he smiled, giving my side a little squeeze.

"I am. Very much so. How's training going?"

"Oh man it's going sweet! We are totally gonna whip some ass this season!" I'd kind of zoned out at this point, glancing over to Dad and Carole who were looking on happily and talking to some other parents about their sons the graduate and the football player, but Finn regained my attention with yet another exclamation of delight.

"Right, I'd better go now buddy but congrats again! If you ever want tickets to the game you hit me up right?" Nodding my head I watched my brother depart, suddenly overwhelmed with people again and putting on his game face as he smiled and posed for digital cameras.

"You ok?" Abruptly I realised Blaine was talking to me, looking up I shook my head to make things clear again and sighed.

"Yeah." I knew Finn didn't mean to steal the spotlight, but it was hard to be pleased with your own achievements when he had already outdone you five times over in half the time.

"You know that'll be you in a few years." Creasing my forehead in confusion I stared again at the squealing girls, the pens and papers flying everywhere.

"Like Finn?"

"You'll be famous. Everyone will want your designs. They'll be people asking for _your_ autograph and _they'll_ be famous." Finally understanding my shoulders sagged, suddenly overcome with a ginormous amount of love.

"You really think so?" Blaine smiled, leaning in to kiss me again and gently stroking my hair as he did so.

"I know so." I was about to suggest we find a room, maybe even leave this party altogether, when my boyfriend whispered in my ear.

"Do you want to get some air?"

Compared to the busy heat of inside the wind outside was cold and made me glad I had a robe to wrap around myself. Blaine had strolled out in front of me and was now leaning against a white metal fence that looked out over the whole of New York.

"Care to join me?" He patted the space next to me with a smile and I immediately walked over, snuggling into his outstretched arms and sighing in content.

"It was getting a little hectic in there wasn't it?" I nodded, not wanting to say anything else, and took in several deep breaths of the smell of his shirt. There was nothing I didn't like about Blaine. He had the ability to take even the worst situations and make them perfect just by being there.

"Can you believe we live here?" My boyfriend's arm that wasn't around me pointed out to the skyline, a skyline that was now lit up with thousands of tiny little lights – people hard at work in their offices or settling down in their apartments to watch some TV and eat dinner.

"No." I answered the question but wasn't referring to New York.

"I have to say I never thought I would be doing this right now. Be here, with you." Suddenly his posture became a little stiffer – I noticed the change and looked up, now noticing that he looked decidedly nervous.

"Blaine? Are you ok?"

"Do you remember when you and your parents said you would pay for my education? At your party?" I nodded, suddenly a little worried. Everything was ok…wasn't it?

"Yes. I do."

"You know when I was waiting for you to come out I was convinced your Dad was going to ask me to propose." My eyebrows rose. Blaine let out a little chuckle, slightly tighter than normal and his hand rubbed my shoulder absentmindedly. "I was bricking it."

"I can imagine."

"I would have done it." My eyebrows furrowed. I looked across, trying to work out what Blaine meant, but then realised it was what I thought it was. "I would have proposed to you." My boyfriend now looked more serious than ever, he turned his body to face mine and took hold of both of my hands.

"Well, um, I-"

"-Would you have wanted me to?" I paused again?

"Wanted you to what?"

"Propose to you." My God. I took a deep breath, trying not to get overwhelmed by the situation.

"Of course. Of course I would have wanted you to." Blaine's eyes gazed into mine, the deep pools of hazel seeming to seep into me and wrap around my very soul.

"Would you want me to do it now."

Suddenly Blaine was on one knee. I wasn't sure how it had happened, or if it were actually happening and not some cruel dream, but he was there.

"Oh my God Blaine." I tried to break my hand away to put it over my mouth but Blaine gripped onto it, still staring straight into my eyes.

"Kurt. These past two years have been the best of my life. You have taken me from a lost little coffee barista to living out my dream, my dream to live with and be in love with someone as perfect as you. You are already my life, but I want to make you officially part of it, so everyone will know we are together forever." Slowly he let one hand go to reach into his pocket and bring out a box. I was having to bite my lip to contain the sobs, the squeals of pure delight and amazement.

"Kurt Hummel…" He said, now with more conviction than I had ever heard in my life, his hand gripping onto mine like he never wanted to let it go. "…Will you marry me?"

The box flipped open and I screamed. It was only a small one, but it was enough to make my boyfriend jump. I could barely look at the ring without hyperventilating, turning away for a brief second but still gripping onto his hand for dear life. Seriously – was this _actually_ happening?

"Kurt?" Suddenly I realised my reaction hadn't exactly instilled hope in Blaine – turning back I tried to calm myself down and smiled the biggest smile my face could take.

"Yes! Oh my God YES Blaine I will marry you!" The look on his face was priceless. As he jumped to his feet I threw my arms around him, pressing my nose deep into his shoulder and beginning to cry with happiness.

"Oh Blaine, Blaine…" I couldn't believe it. I hadn't thought this day could get any better but Jesus it just had.

"We're getting married!" As we broke apart slightly I immediately kissed him deeply, pressing every part of my body against him and pushing him into the fence. For a minute or so we stayed like that, completely immersing ourselves in each other and our collective happiness.

"Do you wanna go back inside?" Blaine asked when our lips finally parted, completely out of breath and also looking as ecstatic as I was.

"No." I replied, still clinging onto him like he was my most prized possession. "I mean yes! Oh my God we have to tell everyone!" Suddenly I was back upright, dragging my now fiancée back to the party and buzzing with excitement.

We'd barely made it through the door when I came face to face with Rachel. She seemed a little upset and had obviously been looking for me judging by her reaction.

"Oh my God Kurt Finn is literally the biggest jerk on the entire planet!" She began, reeling off her rant until suddenly she stopped. "Hey, have you been crying? Is everything ok Kurt?" She looked worryingly at me, glancing back at Blaine who couldn't wipe the grin off his face. I took a deep breath, trying not to let my emotions come out all at once.

"Blaine and I just got engaged!" I exclaimed, waiting for the realisation to hit my second-best friend to the man behind me. "WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!"


	9. Chapter 9 Blaine

_Sorry about the delay again guys - I wrote at least half of this chapter today so that's how busy I've been! Going on holiday for a week now so enjoy while I'm gone! :D_

_Liz xxx_

* * *

**Chapter 9**

For a second the room was silent. I had hung my head, staring down at the floor so I could see that the tips of my shiny black shoes were beginning to wear. My trousers were getting a little short and would probably have to be lengthened the next time I went to the tailor. I couldn't tell what Kurt's expression was after he finished talking and didn't want to see.

"It was a great proposal." Suddenly I realised he was speaking to me. Clenching my eyes shut for a brief second before I looked up I focused on him, trying to take in his expression. He looked…wistful.

"Yeah?" I replied, expecting him to be being sarcastic and come back with some retort to knock me off my feet. He didn't.

"Actually it was probably the best moment of my life. Apart from when we actually did get married."

"I suppose you wanna steal that story too?" I was trying not to let it show, how much these particular stories were getting to me. I'd put a lot of effort into that proposal. It hadn't looked like it, but I'd spent days and nights planning it out, practising my speech to perfection. The ring had cost virtually all my savings.

"No, you have this one." I couldn't take the look he gave me – suddenly filled with something – was it compassion?

"I want to go." Finally sitting properly upright I looked over at Brian. He immediately countered.

"Blaine, we can't leave now. We're too far into proceedings."

"There are no proceedings. _I want to go_." I moved my hand over to shut his laptop but my solicitor stopped me.

"Just tell this story and then it will get better." He was whispering now, trying to get my co-operation in a more private way. The words were wrong though – it wouldn't get better. After this our fairytale life would begin to crumble, fall apart slowly and painfully.

"Mr Anderson?" Suddenly the man spoke. For a cruel second it looked as if Kurt turned too, but he quickly moved his head back to it's original position and seemed to curse himself. "If I may intervene – I suggest you continue so we can get the whole story of your relationship from both sides." Stories, stupid stories. Telling them wasn't much fun anymore.

"I know you loved that day just as much as I did." Kurt spoke again, this time almost pleading, reasoning. Fine. I would tell this story. I would tell it so when it got to later on he would realise how much it made me suffer.

"Fine, let's do this."

* * *

It was my wedding day. _My wedding day_.

I still couldn't believe it. Little Blaine Anderson. Had failed at everything in his life, lost his dream, his friends, everything. And now he was anew. New dream, new life, new…husband. Jeez, it sounded crazy to even say it. But that's what Kurt would be in less than 12 hours. My _husband_.

Kurt. Glancing over at the empty bed my heart saddened. To comply with true wedding tradition we hadn't been able to see or speak to each other the past few days. No formal discussion had really gone into who would be the metaphorical 'bride' in this situation, but Kurt seemed to have done a pretty good job of holding the mantle – booking himself into a fancy hotel along with Rachel and a couple of other friends and pampering himself to his hearts content. Part of me hoped he wasn't having a good time – not because I was a sadist but because quite frankly I'd been miserable. After so much time together, any time apart from Kurt, whether tradition or not, was torture.

I set about straightening my tie and sorting out my hair in the mirror, it was way too early but I honestly couldn't think of anything else to do. My expression seemed solemn, nervous, tired and excited all at the same time. Suddenly the doorbell rang however, and I was brought out of my reverie to run and answer it.

"Blaine!" My brother stood in the doorway. He was much taller than the last time I'd seen him – broader and more commanding. To be honest I barely recognised him.

"Cooper." We hugged, a strange but somehow still meaningful hug and when we pulled apart he gripped hold of my shoulders to stare at me.

"Wow. My little brother. _Getting married_."

"Hard to believe isn't it?" Anderson senior had already taken his walk down the aisle – I'd been barely 16. Now with 2 kids and a house in Washington he really was the American dream. To be honest I was surprised he'd left it to come down here at all.

"Not at all! I knew someone would snap you up eventually." My brother countered. "Or was it you that snapped up him? Great job on the proposal buddy!" The slap I received on the shoulder almost made me flinch.

"Thanks."

"What time is everyone getting here?" I glanced up at the clock – yet another thing that just screamed _Kurt_ in this apartment of ours.

"Um, soon. You were early."

"Awesome. Well I suppose it's only fair that we…" Suddenly he reached round into the bag he'd placed on the bed behind us and pulled out a large bottle of champagne, "START THE PARTY!"

The atmosphere got a little less awkward once my East Street Bean friends arrived – Cindy worked out immediately the source for my melancholy.

"It's tough isn't it? Being away from him?" I sighed, nodding my head slowly and she gave me a hug, immersing me in her funny flowery smell.

"After tomorrow you'll never be apart." A smile perched across her face and I had to return it. That _did _sound nice. Kurt would be _mine_. Not that he hadn't been already, but now it would be official.

"Who's the hottie with the bubbly?" Suddenly Anita appeared, handing Cindy a glass and already looking a little tipsy herself.

"That's Cooper, my brother."

"Brother? I didn't even know you had a brother!" She looked shocked, her mouth forming into a perfect little o and I chuckled.

"Yeah. I haven't seen him in a while. He has a wife and two kids though so I wouldn't go there." As Anita pouted and we all laughed and I stared out of the window – willing the hours to go away so I would finally be face to face with the man I loved.

(*)

The service took place in the city hall – one of the many rooms meant for such occasions. Kurt hadn't wanted to go anywhere near a church and we wanted somewhere central to reflect the place we had met. Conveniently city hall was pretty near the East Street Bean – which was where we were having our reception. As we made our way to the connecting preparation rooms I had a peek into the main hall. Jeez. There were quite a few people here. Granted, most of them were Kurt's friends or family – he'd seemed to want to invite everybody he possibly knew. My select few consisted mainly of my old work friends and a few people from college. But they were all here to see us.

As I stood in front of the mirror trying to psyche myself up Cindy fussed with my hair and brushed down the back of my suit jacket. I'd pinned the tiny cluster of flowers Kurt had left on my pillow to my left pocket, right over where my heart was.

"Stay calm Blaine, everything will be fine." My eyes stayed focused on my reflection, trying to work out if I looked excited or terrified.

"Are Mom and Dad here yet?" Cooper sat up from his slouched position in his seat as I asked him the question – almost like he'd been asleep.

"Huh? Oh, Mom and Dad. Yeah they're on their way, Dad sent me a text." Albert Anderson was walking me down the aisle. To completely go against tradition and not establish any particular 'roles' in the wedding, Kurt and I would both be walked in by our fathers, one at one side of the room and one at the other. We would convene in the middle and then the wedding would begin. I loved this idea – it made us individual and also let us both take those fateful steps that would bring us together forever. It did mean however that I would have to finally face my estranged father.

"You know ever since you started this accountant course he's been trying to get in contact with you?" I grimaced. Of course he would. Dad had never supported my desire to go into theatre – he'd said it was stupid and would never give me the income I would need to sustain myself. Cooper had gone and gotten himself a good job for a respectful company that took the Anderson name out of its poor beginnings and I had just… Well I had failed. Since I'd taken the decision to go against their wishes Mom and Dad didn't really keep that much in contact. Of course now that I was actually 'doing something' with my life they wanted back in. At least they weren't bothered with me being gay.

"I know." The reply was short, almost a little joke to myself.

"Why didn't you call him back? He's trying to make amends you know." Yeah. Because somebody else paid the college tuition.

"I've been busy. Planning a wedding and all." Cindy moved round to my front, her lips pursed in concentration as she pushed back a strand of my hair that had fallen out of place and straightened my collar.

"Come on, no arguing today. This is a wedding!" She smiled and I smiled back, glad to have an ally.

(*)

After a few minutes of primping and fussing the sound of people approaching filled the room. I turned my head towards the open door and suddenly my parents entered. Mom was dressed very respectfully, in a dark blue satin dress that showed off her still very enviable figure, as well as her deep black hair. Dad had put on what looked like his best suit but still had the same old expression plastered across his face.

"Boys." Holding out his hands Cooper and I were beckoned over – I let one arm wrap lightly around me and stood there trying to look enthused as my face was pushed almost into my brothers.

"My two sons. Married." He seemed happy. Pulling away I embraced my mother, this one a little more meaningful, and she held on tightly as she whispered in my ear.

"I'm so proud of you Blaine." I felt my heart sag a little at the realisation that I never really got to hear those words as a child. Kurt _knew_ his parents were proud of him – it was written across their faces. I had to work to earn my parents' love.

"So Blaine, any nerves?" Dad spoke again, his voice big and booming, obviously filled with pride at the fact his youngest son was finally doing something with his life. I shrugged my shoulders, prompting a little giggle and a shoulder rub from Mom.

"He's barely said a word all morning." Cindy suddenly chimed in, walking up to us and linking her arm with mine, smiling widely. If I wasn't marrying Kurt I sure as hell would marry her right now.

"Missing Kurt?" Mom was looking at me with adoring eyes and I blushed, mumbling a reply as I looked down at the floor.

"Well things are almost ready. Now everyone is here I'm sure the minister will want to get things rolling."

"Yes yes, everyone get out so the groom and his father can have some preparation time." Dad ushered everybody out of the room – I almost protested but realised this would have to happen at some point. A few moments alone with my father to get to the part where I got to see Kurt.

_Kurt_.

"Now son." Suddenly I felt hands on my shoulders – dark brown eyes staring into mine with an almost frightening gaze. "This is probably the most important moment of your life. I want you to be sure you want to go through with this." What? I almost laughed.

"Of course I do Dad. I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life." For a second Dad smiled. It was the first time I'd seen him do anything like that for a while.

"Then let's do this."

(*)

I stared forward at the black screen. It had been erected at the side of the room to block Kurt and I from the audience, to block us from each other. Right behind it was the fateful walk I would take towards my destiny, the walk that was now only minutes away. I could feel my palms beginning to sweat. Dad was standing next to me, looking almost as nervous as I felt. I suppose this was a big moment for him too – a lot of eyes in his direction. The fact he'd never really officially met Kurt other than on Skype was probably playing on his mind but I didn't care. I knew I wanted this. More than anything.

Suddenly the music began to play. My heart dropped as the crowd hushed – the screen rustling as somebody fiddled with it ready to pull it back. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, my hands reaching out to grip something but finding only my sides. Dad linked his arm with mine and then in one swift movement the scene was revealed.

(*)

For a second I was startled. My eyes marvelled over the huge amount of people that were here – the eyes suddenly trained on me, the beautiful decoration of the pews and the walkway we were about to go down. Then my gaze switched quickly to the other side of the room and everything else was lost.

Kurt.

It was a good job Dad was holding onto me because my whole body leapt forward, suddenly drawn towards the figure just 50 or so metres away from me. Kurt did exactly the same thing, Burt almost dragging him backwards and I felt a small laugh escape from my lips. Dear God. Kurt looked so beautiful. It was almost like not seeing him for a few days had brought me right back to that first time we'd met at the coffee shop – the intense shot of emotion that had coursed through me in that second and made me realise that this person in front of me was someone very special. After the initial reflex jerk forward I realised I would actually have to begin walking towards him – my foot lifted itself up and plonked down a step or so away without me even registering it. The movement was like torture, wanting to get to the middle but having to lengthen it out, make it last so everyone else would enjoy it. Kurt and I had our eyes locked together and didn't deviate until we were almost close enough to touch each other.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Suddenly the minister spoke. My eyes glanced away at him but quickly returned – I saw Kurt looked pained, as if the loss of contact had somehow affected him. Wanting to reassure him I held out my free hand, letting it hover in the air near his, and mouthed hello with a smile. My fiancée mouthed it back.

"We are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Mr Blaine Anderson and Mr Kurt Hummel." Now I felt the grip of my Dad loosen, his body slipping away with Burt to sit in the front row next to Mom and Carole. Finn, Rachel, Cindy and Cooper would be standing somewhere around, maybe behind me, maybe the other side. I wanted to acknowledge them but simply couldn't tear my eyes away for another second.

"The grooms have requested the traditional vows, so these will now be spoken." I bit my lip, knowing this was my time to speak. Kurt let out a soft chuckle and it immediately calmed me.

"Mr Anderson, if you would please take Mr Hummel's hand." I didn't have to be asked twice. The ripple of laughter that rang out over the room as Kurt's hand practically crushed itself into mine made me smile. I gripped tightly onto his fingers and rubbed my thumb over his skin, revelling in the contact.

"Now repeat after me. I, Blaine Andrew Anderson…"

"I, Blaine Andrew Anderson…"

"Do take thee, Kurt Elizabeth Hummel…"

"Do take thee, Kurt Elizabeth Hummel…" Kurt looked like he was about to cry, his teeth chewing on his lip as he gripped my hand like his life depended on it.

"To be my lawfully wedded husband…"

"To be my lawfully wedded husband…" Suddenly it was real – the words I was speaking finally meant something other than fantasy or practice – this was it.

"To have and to hold from this day forward…"

"To have and to hold from this day forward …"

"For better for worse…"

"For better for worse…"

"For richer for poorer…"

"For richer for poorer…"

"In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish…"

"In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish…"

"Until death do us part…"

"Until death do us part."

(*)

The vows went on. Kurt could barely get his out – the tearful speech sending awws spinning round the room and many female guests reaching for their tissues. When the rings were called for Finn jumped up and practically bounded across the small space. He'd really made an effort to dress up and it was nice to see him finally out of the spotlight for once. I slipped Kurt's onto his finger with an immense feeling of pride – like we were now permanently connected – bound to each other in a way everybody could see.

"If anybody has any objections to this marriage, they should speak now." Suddenly I cast my eyes across the room, fear rippling through me at the thought of anybody disrupting this perfect moment. My gaze rested on Dad but he seemed calm, also looking around with amusement.

"If you dare…" Unexpectedly Kurt spoke, his voice taking on a menacing tone and I laughed, a loud pealing sound that made everybody look back at us.

"They wouldn't baby," I whispered under my breath to him in reply, "they wouldn't."

"Well if there are no objections there is only one thing left to say." The minister brought our attention back to him, smiling at us and holding out his arms, preparing to utter the final words I had been waiting to hear my entire life. "I now present you husband and husband."

Before I could even take a breath Kurt threw himself on me. I felt his lips press against mine and immediately let him in, almost acting on reflex from all the other times we had kissed. I felt his arms wrap around me, pressing his entire body flush with mine and creating a cocoon that blocked us out from the rest of the world. My body was alive with desire, happiness, love. I could have kissed him forever but knew at some point we would have to break away, would have to return to the scene we had played out and now had to end.

We were married.

(*)

This was the busiest the East Street Bean had ever been. There were people everywhere, chatting, laughing, eating. It was funny being in here without an apron tied round my waist.

"So how does it feel? _You're married!_" Cindy grabbed hold of my free hand, jumping up and down and squealing like a little five year old girl. My other hand was currently still locked into Kurt's – we hadn't broken contact since we'd met at the altar.

"It feels…it feels, amazing." Kurt smiled, leaning forward to kiss me again and I lengthened the contact for as long as possible.

"I'll second that." He replied once we broke away, staring dreamily into my eyes and then biting his lip.

"Gosh you guys are so cute." I blushed, pretending to swat my friend away and then felt Kurt shuffle closer to my side to bring back the contact we'd had with our bodies this entire time. To be honest all I wanted was to leave this party now and just kiss him silly, but we had a duty to attend to, and lots of guests to satisfy.

"How does it feel?"

"Were you nervous?"

"Can I see the ring?"

"When are you leaving for your honeymoon?" Kurt and I had decided not to have a honeymoon – both of us feeling the money would be better spent on our near future plans and getting us set up as a married couple. The honeymoon would come when Kurt's business had set off and he had enough staff to take over for him whilst we were away. We answered each question politely and indepthly, still never leaving each other's side and still glancing the other's way every minute or so.

(*)

"So Blaine – I hear you have an apprenticeship with Gringlends?" Dad had commandeered my attention and the conversation yet again, and we were back to accounting. I glanced quickly over at Cindy who had brought herself and Anita over for support upon seeing him arrive and saw her raise he eyebrows in sympathy.

"Yeah." I began, trying not to make the sigh in my voice evident. "It's not finalised yet but I'll be shadowing someone over the term and then if they think I'm good enough it might get me a temp job in the summer."

"Well that's fantastic! A paid job?"

"Yeah." I felt Kurt squeeze my hand and looked across to see him staring kindly at me. He'd heard enough about my Dad to know that money and status were the only important things in his life. Especially when his son's new husband had lots of both.

"Well I'm very proud of you son. This boy here really turned your life around didn't he?" He smiled, giving Kurt a heavy pat on the shoulder. I almost wanted to push him arm away and forbid him from touching my husband but managed to contain myself and simply grit my teeth until he moved back away. Kurt seemed a little shocked but still kept the smile on his face.

"I don't think it was just my doing. Blaine worked very hard to get where he is."

(*)

Suddenly a shout from the other side of the room diverted our attention. For a second I couldn't work out who it was, but then the crowd parted and two figures I recognised emerged.

"I told you it's over now, why do you have to go and make such a scene every time I see you?"

"Because YOU BROKE MY HEART FINN! YOU BROKE IT AND THEN YOU JUST _LEFT_ IT THERE! TO _DIE_!" Rachel looked a complete mess – her hair had begun to come out of it's immaculate ponytail and tear were streaming down her face. Finn tried to protest again, already surrounded by several girls ready to defend his case, but she turned and stormed away, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand as she marched past us.

"Oh Lord." Kurt said, glancing back from his brother to his best friend. "I'd better go." He went to let go of my hand and I immediately clenched it shut, not wanting the contact to break and my lifeline to be taken away from me again. Kurt looked back and seemed upset that I was troubled – he took a step towards me and held my face with his free hand.

"I'm sorry. I'll be back in a second ok?" Kissing me softly he checked for my approval and I nodded my head, watching him walk away with sadness.

"Wow, what was _that_ all about?" Cindy asked. Dad seemed to have disappeared off somewhere and I was glad.

"Ergh. Finn and Rachel have history."

"I can't believe Kurt's brother is _Finn Hudson_." Anita was still staring over at the scene of the commotion – Finn now being comforted by his legion of female fans and Anita looking like she wanted to join them. Jeez, what was it with her and people's brothers today?

"Yeah. You wouldn't think it." I could see Finn looked a bit rattled, I thought about going up to him but figured he'd be ok with everyone else. Besides, I needed a break from talking.

"So what are you and Kurt going to get up to tonight?" Cindy asked. For a second the question confused me but then I saw the glint in her eye and finally realised.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know."

(*)

The door slammed shut and for a second I wondered if Kurt was going to stop, check the wall for any plaster that might have flaked off or insist that we install buffers around the door to avoid it ever happening again. Then I was slammed into the wall and realised that probably wasn't on his mind right now.

"Oh _Blaine_." Jamming his tongue into my mouth and his hips into mine I let out a groan, feeling my whole body tense up and turn to jelly at the same time. My arms flailed about against the wall but were then pinned up, Kurt ravaging me until I could barely breathe.

"Been so long, without you, need, release…" I understood perfectly. Apart from the actual wedding this was the moment I had been looking forward to for the whole day. Kurt and I – _alone_.

Suddenly I was pulled off the wall. Kurt swung me around, still keeping his crotch dangerously close to mine, and then began to walk us across the living room. When we passed the couch he shoved me back against it and kissed me some more, letting me push back this time. Jesus – were we even going to _reach _the bedroom?

"Kurt, ohlord." I could feel my words beginning to fail me but my husband took the signal and moved us on again. When we finally reached the bed he climbed on top of me and surveyed my already completely aroused state.

"Oh _Mr Anderson_…" He said, staring down with dark eyes and running his hand over my crotch – the pants now straining over my growing erection. "Mr_ Anderson Hummel…_" He lowered his body over mine, kissing me and palming my erection roughly – I screamed out and dug my fingers into his back, already wanting his clothes off.

"Now that we're married we can do whatever we want to each other." Kurt carried on, having to pause every few words or so to catch his breath. His hands roamed across my body, taking everything in and looking at me with hungry eyes.

"_Whatever we want_. What do you want to do to me?" I sat up, taking him by surprise and grabbing hold of his face, kissing him deeply.

"I want…" I replied, having to catch my own breath and staring deep into his eyes. Kurt looked at me like he would do anything I asked him to. "I want to make love to you."

(*)

And that's what we did. For the rest of the night it was just me and Kurt – nobody else even came close to entering our perfect little bubble. We groaned and moaned and writhed but it was all _us_. When our orgasms died down Kurt snuggled up to me, wrapping his arm over my chest and resting his head in the crook of my neck.

"That was nice." He said, smiling as he did so and I smiled back. We both knew it had been more than nice.

"I missed you." I replied. Running my hands through his hair I traced my eyes along the contours of his body, taking every inch of him in.

"Me too. The hotel was horrible." Surprised I stopped, causing him to look up.

"Really? Why?"

"Because you weren't there to share it with me." As Kurt sighed, the realisation that he'd had just as much of a miserable time apart as I had suddenly crept up on me – it filled me right up to the brim and made my whole body tingle.

"I love you." I said, pulling his body up a little further so I could press our noses together. "Mr Hummel Anderson." Kurt smiled, kissing me softly and then running his fingers down my back.

"I love you too. Mr Anderson Hummel." The faint sound of New York traffic sounded outside - taxis beeping, buses stopping, the rumbling of the subway. Inside the only sound audible was that of two hearts, now joined as one, beating together.


	10. Chapter 10 Kurt

_Oh man. _

_My holiday was splendid, but unfortunately it was so relaxing I got no writing done whatsoever! What with that and the start of the Olympics (GO GB!) I literally wrote this chapter in one day. Hopefully from now on I'll be back to more regular updates - sorry! Thanks again for sticking around._

_Liz xxx_

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Wow. This was hard.

After Blaine finished speaking I left him a few seconds of silence before doing anything. To be honest I needed them too. All those memories – jeez. They really had been perfect. I remembered I'd closed all of my accounts, credit cards, email addresses, to change my name to Mr Hummel-Anderson. I wanted the world to know I was married to the most glorious perfect man. And he was. At that time he was my everything.

"Was that good enough for you?" The sadness in Blaine's voice tinged with the bitter edge of resentment made my stomach clench. For a second all I wanted was to reach out and touch his hand, the one that was now clasped in his lap the way he always did when he was upset. I wanted to, but I didn't. That would only have made the situation worse.

"It was great." I simply replied. That had almost the same effect. Blaine withdrew further, bringing his hand up towards his chest before he realised what he was doing and simply shifted back further into his seat.

"What happened after the wedding?" The man asked. I turned my attention away from my husband to answer him.

"Well we didn't go on a honeymoon. We wanted to save the money."

"Your money." I ignored the retort.

"We stayed living in our flat and Blaine carried on with his studies. I started looking for a studio."

* * *

At the sound of the buzzer I jerked to attention, rushing to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Kurt? It's me." My heart sank.

"Oh, hi Rachel. I'll buzz you up." Pressing the button next to the intercom I walked off back to the blueprints I had been analysing and waited for my friend to arrive. When the main door opened and the clip clop of heels filled the room I turned around and saw her smiling back at me.

"Hey!" Running towards me I felt her arms wrap around me and sighed, hugging her back before we pulled away and she noticed my expression.

"_Hey_. A 'hi Rachel, it sure is nice to see you' would be nice." Immediately my pallor reddened.

"Sorry." It had been a long day and there was only really one person I wanted to see.

"Is Blaine not here yet?"

"No." Immediately my best friend understood. Rubbing my shoulder sympathetically she said nothing for a few seconds, before gazing round the room we were standing in and looking impressed.

"Wow Kurt. Is this all yours?"

"Yup." It certainly was. The studio was huge – probably the size of half a football pitch. It had taken a lot of negotiating to get it, especially with the prime location, and it would need a little fixing up – but it was mine.

"This is amazing." Taking a little skip around the space, her neat red skirt fluttering about a little as she did so, Rachel laughed – spreading out her arms and spinning in a circle like she was in the sound of music. "Wahoo!" I chuckled, watching her dance around until my attention was once again captured by the blueprints. My phone sat patiently next to them, silent and stationary, no matter how many times I checked it. Blaine would be here. He was just busy. Not that this wasn't one of the most important moments of my career or anything but hey. He was busy.

(*)

"Whatcha doooing?" Rachel called out again, beginning to return to my stationary position and I looked up, twirling a pen round in my hand.

"Just checking the blueprints." She waltzed up behind me and peeked over my shoulder, obviously not understanding any of it.

"Woah, that looks complicated."

"It is." She pushed me lightly to the side so she could get a better look and leant closer, so her nose was almost touching the paper.

"Don't you have somebody to do this for you?"

"Of course I will. The builders will be in tomorrow. But I need to check everything first."

"Ah cool. And what about Diego?" I'd set about hiring myself a part time assistant – nothing fancy, just somebody to keep track of the things in my schedule that I couldn't.

"He's coming tomorrow too. I kinda wanted this moment to just be me." And Blaine. I didn't say the final words but I didn't need to. My eyes glanced briefly up to the clock and I had to hold back the sinking feeling that threatened to come out.

"So…"

"How is Teen Vogue?" Immediately taking the bait Rachel launched herself into an in depth description of how her internship was going. She seemed to be having a whale of a time and would be going on a couple of photo shoots in the next few weeks.

"It's _amazing_."She finished, almost gazing out into space as she thought of it. "Just amazing. But I'd still much rather be doing what you're doing."

"What? This?" I replied, gesturing round in surprise. Rachel nodded.

"Yes. I may be working but I'm still working for someone else. Starting your own business, your own line – well _that's_ the dream."

(*)

I was about to respond, say something reassuring and give her a big hug, when suddenly the buzzer sounded and all other thoughts went out the window.

"Hello?"

"I'm sorry I'm sorr-" Not even letting him finish I pressed the button, my whole body suddenly alive again. I waited by the door almost bouncing up and down until when someone finally came through it I threw my arms around them – taking them completely off guard.

"Woah!" Blaine called out, almost losing his balance and having to grab onto the door to stay upright. I ignored his cry and simply pressed my face harder into his neck. I had been waiting all day for this moment and wasn't going to let it go.

"Kurt, Kurt, let me breathe." Finally releasing my vice-like grip I pulled away slightly and stared back at my husband. He looked flustered – like he'd been in a rush to get here – and his hair was a little messy, although I didn't know how much of that had been created by my assault just now.

"Hey baby." I said. Blaine's previous annoyance seemed to melt away as we stared at each other and as I leant forward to kiss him deeply he met me eagerly.

"I'm so sorry I was late." He replied once we broke away. I kept my body pressed against his and ran my fingers through his hair, attempting to straighten it out a bit but enjoying the feeling of the curls against my skin.

"I was worried." My response was supposed to be playfully serious – expressing the annoyance and worry I _had_ faced before his arrival – but instead it just came out how it always did when I saw him after a long while. Lovesick.

"Oh hi Rachel." It was funny how often this scenario happened. Rachel and I would be talking and Blaine would appear to just completely command my attention. I suppose I should feel bad about it, but she was used to it now.

"Hi." Blaine walked over, taking me with him and gave her a half hug and a kiss on the cheek. He really was such a gentleman.

"How are you?"

"Good thanks. How's the Gringlends stuff going?" My husband rolled his eyes.

"It's _going_. Gonna be a while before it's sorted yet." Now that he was finally here I was eager to show Blaine the fruits of my labours, dragging him over to the blueprints and positioning him right in the centre.

"Look!" I exclaimed, excitedly pointing at the paper. "This is it!"

"Wow." Finally taking a look around the room Blaine's eyes widened – he glanced at me then back at the prints and started tracing round parts with his fingers. "This is really all yours?"

"Yup!" I slipped in front of him, pulling one of his arms round my waist and snuggling my head into the crook of his neck as I pointed more things out. Rachel looked on in amusement at my sudden change in persona to a 10 year old showing their Daddy a painting they did at school and then checked her pager.

"Oh shoot – I've gotta go Kurt, they just called me in at the office." Diverting my attention for a second I looked back at her and made my put out face, even though I wasn't really.

"Oh, ok. See you soon." As she gathered together all her things, giving me a pat on the shoulder and Blaine another kiss on the cheek as she left, I looked back at the drawings and immersed myself in them until the door finally closed shut.

(*)

"_Kuuurt_." Turning back in surprise I saw Blaine looking at me disapprovingly.

"What?"

"You know what. You could have at least said bye to Rachel properly." I could feel him drawing away from me slightly, obviously as punishment for my poor friendship skills and I sulked, reaching out to pull his arm in closer again.

"She's busy. The office called her in didn't you hear?"

"Even so. You kinda just left her."

"Well I was ancy because you were late ok?" Immediately his face dropped. I knew it was a bum move and tried to redeem myself, but the damage was already done.

"I said I was sorry about that. Tyler and I had to do some more stuff about the apprenticeship." Pulling him closer again I stroked his hair and kissed his neck, now cursing myself.

"I know, I know, of course you have to do that. But can't you talk through that kind of stuff with me?" My husband raised his eyebrows.

"No offence Kurt, but Tyler knows a hell of a lot more about accounting than you do."

"But it seems like you're always with him and this is one of the most important moments of my life and I want you here but you're not and-" Finally I was silenced. Blaine kissed me deeply, mostly to shut me up but also to show a reassurance that rang true and clear.

"Baby," he started, almost laughing, "I can assure you that most of the time I am with Tyler I am wishing I was with you. I've been looking forward to this moment just as much as you have, and I'm here now. Yeah? I'm here." I sighed. He was right. It was stupid to be getting het up about the little things when in fact, he _was_ here. He'd made a huge effort to get here and now he was. We were together.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled, suddenly feeling terrible. Blaine wiped his finger under my eye even though there weren't any tears and nuzzled his nose with mine.

"It's ok silly. Now do you want to show me where everything's gonna go?"

(*)

As I danced around the studio, pulling Blaine from one place to the next, sometimes marking out the counters and pretending to be hat stands or drawers, I really did feel like a child. I was 7 years old again and this was my Wendy house – except now it was real and a lot bigger. Blaine was completely enwrapped, taking in everything I said, and when eventually we ran out of energy and sat down on the abandoned sofa cushions that had been left in the corner of the room he put his arm round me and held me close.

"Wow." He said, still looking round the vast space with as much amazement as I had when I'd first seen it. "I can't believe this is going to be your business."

"It's crazy isn't it?" All those years of picking out fabrics, dreaming out designs and planning fashion shows. They were finally going to happen.

"I'm so proud of you Kurt." Blaine suddenly said. He shifted to face me a little more and looked deep into my eyes, conveying his pride clearly to me. "You have achieved so much. Not just with your parents help – on your own too."

"Thanks." I mumbled in reply, beginning to feel emotional. My husband smiled, kissing me softly and keeping the blissful look on his face as we pulled away. "You've achieved lots too."

"Pfft." At this he waved me away, obviously discarding the comment.

"Hey! _You have_! What did Tyler say? You're the first freshman to _ever _get an apprenticeship?" Blaine blushed, shying away and trying not to make it look like a big deal.

"Yeah, maybe."

"You're the _only one_ Blaine. _And_ you're doing your sophomore and junior years together! You're a freakin genius!" He laughed, pushing me lightly but at the same time pulling me even closer afterwards.

"I wouldn't go that far. But thanks."

"I'm proud of you too." I said, wanting to make it as clear as he had. "I'm so proud."

(*)

One of the blueprints caught the breeze from a window that had been left open. It fell off the table, dancing across the concrete floor until it finally hit the furthest away wall, slightly folding one of the corners. It stuck there – like somebody had used glue – and stayed, mapping out the future of my career, and life.


	11. Chapter 11 Blaine

**Chapter 11**

"You know what would have been nice." Kurt looked up at me, his eyes having misted over slightly at such a fantastic memory. The tone of my voice snapped him out of it however and he looked on with interest.

"What?" I took my time with the answer. Actually hearing him talk about his own achievements had helped to alleviate some of the sadness I'd had before.

"If you'd asked me about how my meetings went on that day."

"What meetings?" He couldn't even remember.

"With Tyler. About the apprenticeship." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"That goddamn apprenticeship. We spoke about _that_ thing enough."

"But you see – we _didn't_. I had to listen to you talk about your business every day. I didn't mind, I just did it. But you hated everything to do with Gringlends." He couldn't argue with that. It had been one of the first signs that our wedding may have been a little hasty.

"I didn't _hate _it," Kurt countered, "I just didn't like the fact that it took you away from me."

"_You_ didn't like the fact it was the one thing I'd gotten without your help." The sound of a sharp intake of breath filled the room. For a second my husband looked like he didn't know what to say, but then he shifted his head – almost as if he were tossing long locks of hair back.

"I was grateful for _everything_ you did."

"Until I became more success-"

"-FINE! FINE! If you want to talk so much about stupid Gringlends then why don't you do it now?" Smiling at my small win I nodded my head, turning to the man and looking at him in satisfaction.

"I will."

* * *

The butterflies in my stomach were going nuts. As I stood outside the giant building – Gringlends emblazoned across the front in large smart writing – I could feel them flitting around and wondered if I was going to be sick. Tyler had ridden the subway with me as far as he could but now I was all on my own. Kurt was busy at his studio.

(*)

Taking one last deep breath and checking the contents of my bag for the fiftieth time I hoisted myself up the shallow steps and went through the revolving door into the lobby. Everything was huge – I could see why people complained about banks so much. So much wastage. The receptionist at the front desk was very pretty and I could see she eyed me with a friendly glance before enquiring about my business.

"Um, I'm here for the apprenticeship. Blaine Anderson-Hummel." Instantly the recognition spread across her face.

"Mr Anderson-Hummel! How lovely to meet you! If you come this way you'll be shown to your office." Sliding a sign in form and pen in front of me the woman smiled again and I smiled back as confidently as I could – shakily filling in my details before handing it back to her. She was about to take it when she suddenly stopped and looked at me.

"Don't forget your pass." I followed the direction of her gaze and saw a plastic pass with a lanyard attached to it. Picking it up helped me see the Gringlends logo emblazoned across it again, along with my name.

**Mr B Anderson-Hummel**

"Shall we go?" Slipping the pass over my head I nodded, following the receptionist over towards the lift.

(*)

Dude. This was insane. The lift was partially see-through so I could see the whole of New York as we went up it. I was trying desperately to hold in my excitement so receptionist lady wouldn't notice and think me a five year old. When we reached the correct floor the doors opened and she motioned for me to leave, flashing me another dazzling smile as I stepped out.

"Enjoy your first day." As I watched the doors close I turned around slowly and saw yet another desk with a woman sat at it, this time the room on a much smaller scale.

"Blaine Anderson-Hummel?" She asked, not even having to guess at my identity. I nodded my head, grateful people actually expected me to be here and she smiled, beckoning me over.

"Welcome. I see you have found your way here ok." I nodded, still worried that any second I would be ushered away and forced to return back to the crowded lecture rooms of NYU.

"Yeah. Everyone is very friendly."

"That's great." The woman smiled, almost enjoying some kind of private joke, before suddenly the sound of chatter and approaching footsteps filled the room and I looked over to see a group of men march through the double doors. All of them were dressed incredibly smartly – expensive looking designer suits adorning their bodies and sleek well cut hairstyles that made mine look like it had been done by an apprentice. They were all holding files and folders and at the front of the mob walked a tall burly looking man with ruddy red cheeks – obviously the boss. Glancing briefly over to the woman she gave me a nod that said this was my moment and then called over to the group.

"Mr Gringlend! Your apprentice is here." The men immediately stopped, looking over like someone had just announced that they had run out of bacon. I watched the ruddy man – seemingly Mr Gringlend (and the owner of the bank, gulp) turn his head and then rest his eyes on me. For a second his gaze was piercing, almost terrifying, like he was analysing and critiquing me on the spot. Then, suddenly, just like that his frown turned to a beaming smile.

"Mr Anderson-Hummel!" Striding over he held up his hand and for a horrible moment I thought he was going to slap me – thankfully he just held it out to shake and after I did so clapped it onto my shoulder, making me move but not shudder.

"What a pleasure to finally meet you! Did you make your way here ok?" What was with that question? Nodding my head in a similar manner to before Mr Gringlend beamed again, still resting his hand unnervingly on my shoulder.

"I see Missy and Denise helped you out." Some of the men sniggered, making me turn back to the receptionist lady (either Missy or Denise, I couldn't tell) and see her scowling back. "Well we'd better get you settled in – there's a lot to learn on your first day."

(*)

As I was lead through the offices and corridors of Gringlends I was suddenly taken back to two years ago – when all of this would have been a distant dream. Back then my main priority was making sure I tallied up coffee orders right, not looking at shares of multi-million-dollar corporations. Back then I would be wearing a stained apron instead of a sharp new suit, be coming home to my small poky flat instead of the house I shared with Kurt. Hell – two years ago I hadn't even _met_ Kurt. How things had changed. And how much more was still yet to come.

(*)

Mr Gringlend took me to his office, a humongous room right at the end of the block – his collection of followers peeling off to their own smaller offices until only one was left, who looked like his assistant.

"So, here we are." He said as he opened the door, holding out his arm to display his office. "Nice isn't it?" I had to agree. Though the décor was bland it all looked incredibly smart and expensive – the awards and framed pictures adorning the walls showing that it hadn't all just been given to him. "This is what you'll be getting, one day." Sitting down and placing his feet on the mahogany desk Mr Gringlend leant back and stared at me, almost as if he were expecting me to reply. True, this was my dream – to have my own office, but I wasn't expecting anything like that yet.

"Come and sit down!" He continued – motioning to the much smaller chair the other side of the desk. I dutifully responded, perching myself down as his assistant took a standing position behind his boss.

"So…Blaine Anderson-Hummel…" Suddenly a file was produced, most likely from the assistant. Mr Gringlend flicked through it, stopping to read certain points and then looking back at me. I could feel my heart pumping in my chest as I waited for him to continue.

"I see you're new to the financial business."

"Yes." It was the first thing I'd said since meeting him. My throat sounded hoarse and he smiled as I licked my lips to try and regain my normal sound.

"A sophomore, top of his class and taking two years in one." He looked impressed. My new boss seemed to pause for effect as he looked at me.

"You are a talented young fellow."

"Thanks. I worked hard." Now with my voice fully back I could feel confidence surging through my veins. I had obviously made an impression already, a good one, and I was sure Mr Gringlend would help me push on even further.

"Why choose NYU for your studies when you could easily get into Yale?" I pondered how to answer the question. It probably wasn't best to mention my lack of funds – as shallow as that was it would probably have me judged.

"Well, that was complicated. My hus-"

Suddenly a body burst into the room. Mr Gringlend's feet dropped to the floor in surprise and I turned round to see who had entered. The figure looked fairly young, like me, and seemed very flustered.

"I'm sorry for interrupting Sir," he said, his speech hurried, "but you have to see this." Walking over he held a piece of paper in front of his bosses' face. For a second I thought it would be nothing, that the man would be ordered out and possibly fired. But then Mr Gringlend's face darkened and he immediately got to his feet.

"Shit. Ok, I'm coming." Stopping at the door he turned to me, obviously annoyed about having to leave. "Sorry Blaine. Finlay here will get you sorted out. Nice to meet you."

(*)

Once the boss had left 'Finlay' as I now knew him lead me out of the office and to another smaller room. I tried to look into other offices to see what was going on, but couldn't really make out much as there were white blinds covering every window. When we finally reached the right it was opened to reveal a set of computers with three other men sitting in front of some of them. I recognised one from the mob I had seen earlier and I could tell he remembered me too, although the other two were completely new.

"Hi guys." Finlay said, as if he really wasn't happy about seeing them at all. "This is Blaine – you're going to be working with him so please show him the ropes. Someone will be along to check on you in a bit." Motioning me to step forward he left almost as soon as he had finished speaking, closing the door behind us so I was left with a great sense on confusion and worry.

"Um…hi?" Deciding to break the extremely awkward silence that had fallen over the room I looked hopefully at the three men. They all seemed a little older than me, maybe 25, and had very much the aura of a team – a collection of bros. I felt extremely like I was intruding.

"Wassup." Suddenly one of the men spoke. Immediately I focused my gaze on him, thankful that he at least wanted to bring me out of this weirdness. "Blake." Holding out his hand he beckoned me over. For a second I wondered if the other two were going to introduce themselves so looked helpfully over, but then saw them also beckon and shuffled across. It seemed like a strange scenario but I was happy to go with it. I was happy to go with anything.

"Hey, I'm Blai-" As I'd approached I'd held out my hand to meet Blake's. He'd wheeled back a bit on his chair so I'd leant forward and suddenly felt something kick the bottom of my foot. Feeling myself losing my balance I flailed my arms round a bit, letting out a small noise until I smacked against the floor, face first.

(*)

The room erupted.

"OH SNAP!" I looked up to see the three men laughing, two of them holding onto each other to control their shakes.

"Dude, that was the best one yet!"

"Did you see the faceplant?" _Great_. I'd been here 20 minutes and already I was the subject of pranks.

"Sorry man." Holding out his hand Blake leaned over to help me up. I glanced back at it suspiciously, not wanting to fall for the same trick again and he laughed, making contact so I knew he wasn't kidding this time.

"Newbie initiation. The faceplant. So funny." Brushing down my jacket and straightening my tie I smiled back as happily as I could, trying to make it look like I found it hilarious too.

"This is Brad and Tony. Welcome to the bro cave." Suddenly the three men broke out into some kind of handshake. They all huddled in a circle, shouted something, spun round, grabbed each others balls and then punched their fists in the air. Ok…

"You are our newest member dude!" Tony reached out to shake my hand. Still cautious I accepted it, then Brad, before sitting down gingerly at my desk.

(*)

"So you wanna work for Gringlends then?" As I looked for the password I had been given by Finlay Blake rolled over on his chair, still grinning in a way that made me nervous.

"Um, yeah. I'm on an apprenticeship."

"I know. NYU. You're like some uber geek right?" I shrugged.

"You could say that."

"Did you see Missy down in reception?" Brad called over from the other side as I pressed enter and watched my home screen load. Cocking my head to the side I remembered the pretty girl and then nodded.

"_Daaaaaaym_ she is one hot piece of ass!" Hoots rang out from the other two guys and I did my strained smile again. Oh sweet Lord.

"What did you think Blainers? Would you fuck her?" I pondered the thought. Should I hit them with the marriage bomb straight away or let them make fools of themselves for a little longer?

"Well I-"

"Oh my days! Do you remember that dude that worked here before? The fag?" I was about to get annoyed about the interruption – put these guys in their place once and for all, when I stopped.

_Fag_.

"Oh yeah! Sweet Jesus he was weird."

"He said Missy had a nice _complexion_. Who the fuck says that?" I could feel my whole body going cold. My throat had closed up and I was struggling to breathe.

"I bet he had a good _fagplexion_."

"He wanted to fuck you up the ass didn't be Tony?" The guys were finding this hilarious. With every comment another round of booming laughs filled the room. I could feel the bile building in my stomach and wondered if I was going to be sick.

"Hey, you're not a fag are you Blainers?" Suddenly attention was back on me. I almost yelped, trying desperately to plaster the smile back on my face and not look like I was about to pass out.

"What? Um, no, of course not." I laughed the statement off, hoping desperately that these guys were thick enough to buy it. They were.

"Thank God. I don't think I could take anymore ladyboys again."

As I returned my gaze to the computer screen, something that now made me feel even more sick, my mind was whirring. These guys were _homophobes_. Not just little ones – _big ones_. Were the whole company like this? Was Mr Gringlend? Shit. I was in serious trouble. And not just because I had already told my first lie.

(*)

"Hey." Suddenly Blake wheeled over again. I tried not to react to him, pretending to focus on my work, but then I felt him right next to me, the strong scent of aftershave making my head spin.

"Is that a wedding ring?" Before I could react I felt a hand on mine, yanking it up so the ring glinted in the light from the window. Oh _SHIT_.

"No!" Immediately defensive I wheeled back, pulling my hand away and bringing it to my chest. Shit shit shit. Blake looked at me in confusion.

"_Dude_. That's _definitely_ a wedding ring. It's on your wedding finger."

"Let's see!" Suddenly all three guys were over. I felt trapped, trying to move away but unable to. They grabbed hold of my hand again and I buried my head in my shoulder, waiting for my secret to be revealed.

"You _are_ married!"

"Holy shit!"

"Is she hot?"

The penny dropped. Oh yeah. I'd forgotten I could be married to a woman.

"Um, yeah." Suddenly all my problems were solved. The guys looked impressed.

"Wow. That's pretty sweet. What's her name?" Hastily trying to think I searched around in my head for the first girl's name I could think of.

"Quinn." Damn. I was going to have to do better than that.

"Awesome. Blainers is a married man!"

"You've got your own little honey!"

"That means you get sex anytime you want right?" I tried to suppress the laugh.

"Um, yeah, I guess."

"_Awesome_." It seemed like life at Gringlends was going to be ok after all.


	12. Chapter 12 Kurt

****_This is for my good friend Chrissdolfer who asked for an early chapter. I hope you feel better soon :D_

_Liz xxx_

* * *

**Chapter 12**

"And so you lied." My voice was menacing, piercing. It caught Blaine completely off guard, even though he knew that was exactly the reaction I would have. "You _lied_. About being gay, about being married to a _girl_, about _me_. I didn't even _exist_." I could see on his face the regret, that his one decision had pretty much nailed the coffin in our relationship. But he didn't seem sorry.

"You would have done the same." He replied. I scoffed, almost as if someone had told me they knew the lottery numbers.

"Of _course_ I would have. Because I'm _just_ as much of a complete _idiot_ as you."

"I had no choice! They were _homophobes_!"

"Of course you did! It's just a job! You could have walked out and found something better."

"That's like saying you'd walk out of a Vogue internship because they didn't listen to the same music as you did." Oh no you didn't. I stared back at Blaine, the same menacing glare I'd given on so many occasions.

"I would have done what was right for _us_."

"No you wouldn't! You would have walked around with _shit_ on your head if that's what everyone else did! And I would have done the same at Gringlends – _I_ cared about my job because it wasimportant to _me_. It was status and it was _money_, it was _security_ for _us_. I did it for _you_."

"Well you certainly fucked that up didn't you?" For a second there was silence. I could hear the faint sound of Blaine's heavy breathing, almost the same speed as my own in my ears. We hadn't argued like that for a long time. Granted, we'd hardly seen each other but still. It was kind of good to get it out in the open.

"I don't know why you're acting so righteous." Blaine said after a while, sounding as exhausted and tired as I was. "You made some pretty shit decisions in your life." He was right – I had. But I wasn't going to admit that.

"Compared to you I'm a freaking saint."

* * *

The studio was a madhouse. There were people everywhere, carrying things, shouting, bumping into each other. I slowly crouched into the corner and put my hands over my face.

"Kurt? Are you ok?" Peeking up through my fingers I came face to face with Diego, who was looking down at me with sympathetic eyes. Gradually taking my hands away, I dragged them down my face so my skin stretched and I probably looked positively hideous.

"No. This is ridiculous." Looking back at the melee I was filled with dread. I'd expected it to be hectic, expected for me to not get any sleep and want to shoot myself in the face. But this was worse.

"Don't worry, things will calm down." I couldn't imagine when. We'd been like this for three days now, hiring and firing people as I frantically tried to organise myself into some kind of working production.

"Please make it soon." Smiling Diego held out his hand. After a few more second of panicking I took it, letting him haul me up and thanking the stars I at least had a good assistant to help me out. Diego had been a saint ever since his first day – I think I might have committed suicide without him. And Blaine of course, although he was busy as ever with his bank stuff.

(*)

Leading me over to a work desk, where some had helpfully plonked a load of fabrics, Diego pointed to them and began his organising.

"Where do you want these? They need to be sorted so I can get Samuel to do that for you but I need to know where you want them first." Glancing around the room I saw a spare space and vaguely pointed over to it.

"There."

"Ok. We'll get Karl to put the shelving there to hold it all in." He called over to the workman, a small dirty looking fellow who I hadn't really been able to take going near but still smiled at when he approached.

"Karl I need you to put the shelving over there."

"Ok boss." Smiling and then saluting at me Karl walked off, before Samuel was then summoned to begin the sorting. Wow. This was really it. I was living the dream. My own fashion company with my own fabrics, worktops, machine, even people. I had people under me. Figuratively.

(*)

Oh man. Suddenly the thought sent my brain off into another land. Blaine and I had hardly seen each other these past few days and to be honest I was horny as fuck. All I wanted was to screw him silly but instead I had to think about prints and fabrics and freakin _shelves_.

(*)

"Kurt?" Suddenly I realised I'd drifted off, and even more embarrassingly my hand had drifted towards my crotch. If Diego noticed he didn't make a comment and I frantically tried to hide my blush,

"Um, yeah, sorry?"

"Is that setup ok with you?" Shit. I hadn't even been listening. Damn you Blaine for making me a horny slacker.

"Um, yeah, sure." Diego gave me look and I bowed my head, knowing I had been caught, "Sorry."

"It's ok. I'll sort it out for you." As Diego gave yet more instructions to people I suddenly felt incredibly bad, walking over to him and pulling him to the side.

"Thanks." I said once we were alone, realising as soon as I said it that he had no idea what I was talking about. "For everything. I'm pretty much a hot mess and you're holding this business together for me."

"I wouldn't say _I_ was holding it." Diego replied, very graciously. "You're still in control. By the skin of your teeth." I smiled and he laughed, letting me shove him lightly but knowing I appreciated him.

"Well you're still the best assistant I could ever dream of. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Thanks. That means a lot to me. People around here never think we're any good." I sighed. It was a shame that despite being such a tolerant city, there were still people in New York that hated gays or blacks or Hispanics. Diego was one of the nicest men I had ever met, I hated the thought that somebody would ever harm him for the colour of his skin.

"Well if there's anything I can ever do for you then don't hesitate to ask." I smiled, about to walk off and resume some kind of work, when Diego suddenly grabbed hold of my arm.

"Actually…" He said, drawing out the word like he was embarrassed. "…There is one thing you could do…"

"Oh? And what would that be?" Putting my hand on my hip and smiling Diego blushed, making my grin widen even further.

"Well…" He began, so adorably shy it made my heart sigh. "My cousin, Frankie, he got fired recently and needs a job."

"Frankie? That doesn't sound like a very Puerto-Rican name." I joked. Diego smiled.

"His family moved here a while ago, he was actually born in New York. I wouldn't normally ask but his parents are desperate…" I could see the sadness in my assistants eyes and immediately felt my heart go out to him.

"Why did he get fired?" At this he seemed to falter slightly.

"The, company went bust." Well. That seemed like a feasible enough dismissal. Glancing round the studio I could see the dozens of people walking about, but most of them were workmen. I still needed to hire a good few clothing staff.

"Can he sew?" I asked. Diego nodded his head emphatically.

"Yes, very well."

"Well tell him he's welcome on board." A huge grin spread across my assistant's face. He almost went to hug me but decided against it, simply shaking my hand instead.

"Thank you! You will not regret this."

"I'll put him on a trial period to begin with but then we'll see where it goes."

"Thank you." Diego was unrelenting, his gratitude spilling out so it almost drowned me. "You might be able to help him in another way too. He's gay and not really sure how to…control his urges."

(*)

Frankie hadn't been fired from his last job for redundancy. That was nowhere near the real answer. The moment he walked through the door I realised Frankie had been fired, probably from every job he'd ever had, for sexual assault.

"Daaaym." That was the first word he ever spoke to me. Not 'hello', not 'pleased to meet you Mr Hummel-Anderson, thanks for the job'. _Daaaym._ My eyebrows raised, but that wasn't even the worst.

"Deegs! You didn't tell me I'd have an absolute fox as a boss!" Clapping his cousin on the shoulder Frankie seemed ecstatic, raking his eyes up and down my hungrily before walking over with an outstretched hand. I nervously went to shake it but instead of meeting mine the Hispanic's hand went straight to my back, pushing me close as he kissed me on the lips.

"FRANKIE!" Both Diego and I cried out at the same time, mine slightly muffled as I desperately tried to pull away. Frankie didn't seem to see what the problem was, a happy look on his face as he licked his lips and stared back at me.

"Wow." I was speechless so looked over to Diego – immediately he dragged Frankie off and started giving him a good telling off in the corner of the room.

(*)

I walked over to the nearest wall and leant against it, placing my hand on my forehead and then reaching in my pocket for a tissue, violently scrubbing at my lips before throwing it on the floor in disgust. How _dare_ he. I had a good mind to fire him right there. My thoughts went immediately went to Blaine – how he would feel about this, how he would react. My stomach clenched at the thought and I immediately went to busy myself with some designs.

(*)

Fifteen minutes later Frankie returned. He apologised for his over-zealous greeting and explained that his was not completely au-fey with correct American etiquette. Diego assured me that it would never happen again and I agreed to let him stay, as long as he worked the other side of the room from me and didn't so much as touch me ever again. The agreement certainly didn't make me happy, especially with the thought that I was sure Frankie knew what he was doing. As I sent him off and went back to my own work I glanced across at the picture frame I had put on my desk. A photo, of Blaine and I, on our wedding day. He looked so happy in that picture – we both did. I couldn't tell him something like this, not when it was something so insignificant that would never happen again. He would never get over it. Nodding at the photo and then stroking Blaine's face with my free hand I sighed. I wouldn't tell him. Frankie would be fine. I would be fine. We would be fine.


	13. Chapter 13 Blaine

_Looks like updates are going to continue to be infrequent for a while. I will try and get them done as quickly as I can but adult life is very busy! Sorry :S_

_Liz xxx_

* * *

**Chapter 13**

"So you lied too." Kurt shot me a glance, like I had accused him of stealing designs. "_You lied!_ You can't deny it."

"I didn't lie, I just didn't tell you." He replied defensively.

"_That's lying_. 'Kurt did anything interesting happen at work today?' If you say no then you're a liar, something interesting _did_ happen because some _guy _was all up in your face!" It was funny how much this still upset me. After all we'd been through the thought of Kurt kissing another guy still filled me with rage and a stabbing pain in my chest. I suppose he'd probably kissed many other guys since then. And would do so in the future. It wasn't my business anymore.

"Stop being stupid."

"I'm not! You're the one trying to pretend it was nothing, that you didn't egg him on."

"_I did not!_"

"If you didn't, if there really was nothing about it you liked, then _why didn't you tell me."_

"Because I didn't. Jesus Blaine, why do you have to go and make a meal of everything?"

"_Me? Make a meal?_ Oh _please_ you're seriously saying that – _Mr Dramatic_?"

"Well you're the one who wanted to be on Broadway." I couldn't believe him. The nerve. The sheer nerve.

After our small series of barbed retorts Kurt shuffled in his seat, suddenly looking a little uncomfortable. Maybe he was realising what a jerkoff he was being. Maybe he finally understood how much him and Frankie had upset me. Although I suppose I had technically done worse.

"You have the next story Mr Anderson?" I looked up at the man. Yeah, I did. I didn't particularly want to tell it because it wasn't exactly pleasurable, but it would give Kurt a taste of his own medicine.

"Proceed."

* * *

I stared blankly at my screen wishing it would suck me in.

"Hey Blainers – did you see the football game last night?"

"Oh man, there was this girl with _the tightest_ ass I had ever _seen!_" Hey Blainers. Hey Blainers. Hey Blainers. That's all it was every day. I wasn't quite sure when I had given permission for this nickname to be used, or for them to address me at all, but it had happened, in a serious way. I was now part of the 'man-team' a collection of men fighting against the bores of daily work, but also managing to objectify women an almost impossible amount of times a day.

"So did you see it?" I sighed, taking my eyes away from the screen so I could look back at my so-called friends and nod lacklustrely.

"Yup." Of course the boys knew nothing about whether or not I had watched 'the game' or indeed _any_ of my exploits out of the office. Just like Kurt knew pretty much nothing about my exploits in it – I told him all I needed to without the fact that practically everyone I knew was a homophobe and I wasn't going to try and see if I had any allies. Everyone seemed happy to go about their business without these key pieces of knowledge so I was equally happy to just sit back and do my job. I'd been working pretty well at Gringlends and was sure my internship would turn into a semi-paid summer job soon enough.

(*)

"Yo Blainers, have you checked the numbers here?" Blake rolled over, a folder in his hand with numbers I had already looked at over an hour ago and a semi-serious look on his face. I was about to politely own his ass when suddenly the sound of a pen clattering down onto a keyboard stopped us both in our tracks.

"Oh my God." Craning my neck I looked over my computer to see what was going on. Tony had his hand frozen in the position it had been before he dropped his pen, his mouth open in a little o. Brad was staring at him incredulously.

"What dude, what?"

"Natasha is here." Immediately the other two guys reacted. Both of them whizzed their heads round to look in the same direction as Tony and both looked just as shocked.

"Are you sure?"

"Where did you see her?" What were they talking about?

"She went past the door. Just there." Tony lifted up his hand, almost like he was in a trance, and the boys followed him and gazed at the empty spot outside the door.

"Ok guys – what the hell are you talking about?" Finally deciding to join in the conversation and find out what the hell was going on, I spoke out. Three pairs of eyes darted to me and then widened.

"Shit. He doesn't know who Natasha is." My eyebrows furrowed.

"Natasha? Does she work here?" The wide eyes widened further, almost bursting out of their sockets.

"Yes. _She works here_." As Brad obviously went to tell the story the other guys rolled their chairs round to my side, eager to join in and hear it the same way I was. "Natasha is…" He paused, as if unable to come up with the right word. "She's…"

"A whore." I was startled.

"What?"

"No! No an _actual _whore, you douchebag." Brad received a hit round the head for his comment. "Just, metaphorically."

"She's freakin perfect." Tony looked like he was salivating, as if just the memory of her was getting him hot.

"Think of any girl you've ever wanted to bone," that would be, none, "and times that by 100. _That's_ how you feel whenever you look at Natasha." I pretended to look impressed. Obviously this girl had quite an effect on everyone. I wouldn't be part of that club.

"She knows we all wanna fuck her so she sells it _real good_." The description continued – it seemed that pretty much every sexual fantasy that went on within the confines of Gringlend involved her in some kind of way.

"I'm pretty sure Gringlend just hires her to get us all motivated."

"To do what? Jerk off?" My comment had meant to be sarcastic but the guys took it as a joke, suddenly loud guffaws filled the room and I almost put my head in my hands. What _was_ this office?

"What's the joke boys?"

(*)

Suddenly the whole room went silent. I saw the guys slowly turn their heads so followed suit and then came face to face with a _very_ provocative woman. Dark luscious black hair, cut into a sharp bob that framed her features excellently, she had dressed to highlight her figure – _very_ much so. The skirt must have taken hours to put on and the long slit up it showed off her buffed and bronzed legs extremely well. I suppose to any heterosexual guy she was like a wet dream.

"Boys? Cat got your tongue?" I looked across at my colleagues, wondering if they were going to say anything, but saw only shocked and dazed faces staring in the other direction. It was amazing how their bravado and cocky banter had suddenly disappeared, abandoning them so they looked like little puppies begging to be thrown a stick. I was about to bite the bullet and answer for them when suddenly I heard an intake of breath and turned back round.

"_Well._ What do we have _here_?" Natasha's expression had changed, as if she were suddenly being introduced to a new toy. She stood up straight, making sure to accentuate her womanly features, and then began to walk over. Immediately all of the guys hurriedly straightened up, trying to puff out their chests and look manly. I stayed how I was, looking confused, until I realised she was walking towards me.

"Hello handsome." Natasha smiled. She stopped merely half a metre from me, looking at me with interested and hungry eyes. Blake seemed to cough, as if he were trying to divert attention or relay some secret kind of message to me that I wasn't getting.

"Er, hi." I replied.

"What's your name?" Suddenly I felt a hand against the side of my face. Instantly I breathed in sharply, mainly in surprise at the abrupt movement, but also when the fingers travelled up to run slowly through the hair on the left side of my head.

"Um, B-Blaine." Natasha was inches from my face – I could smell her perfume – horribly female. With my shaky reply she smiled further, obviously taking it as sexual arousal instead of genuine surprise and fear.

"Blaine. What a cute name." Once her fingers were free from my hair she ran them down the back on my neck and began to play with my collar. I could feel her knee leaning forward to touch mine as she leant over to whisper in my ear.

"Are you so cute in bed?" I jerked my head back. Natasha was startled, falling forward slightly but then quickly regaining her composure so she pretended to lose her balance further and pressed her hand onto my inner thigh.

"Hey." She said, pretending to scold but grinning at me devilishly. "Someone's a bit jumpy."

"I'm married." I said. Immediately I thrust my hand forward, clearly displaying the ring that everyone else in the room thought belonged to a girl called Quinn. I was beginning to thank my stars that I'd decided to keep it on as it was providing a very good alibi for a great many things. Natasha cocked her head to the side, staring at the sparkling band on my finger, but far from backing off as I expected her to, simply laughed.

"That never stopped me before." Winking she finally rose back to her feet – turning to glance back at me and purse her lips into a kiss "I'll see you around, _Blaine_." As she moved to leave she paused very briefly by my co-workers, who had almost completely been forgotten.

"Keep up the _hard_ work guys." A hand reached out to brush across Tony's face and to my surprise he simply let her manhandle him, staring up at her with an open mouth and lust-ridden eyes. Jeez. Laughing again Natasha turned to give one final look in my direction, smiling sweetly before exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

(*)

There was silence.

I glanced across at the three guys I had previously thought were untouchable – who could say anything to any woman and get away with it scott free. They were completely gobsmacked. After I got over the initial shock of pretty much being molested by somebody I had only just met I actually found it kind of funny. A low chuckle bubbled in my stomach and I almost laughed. Then the celebrations started.

"DUDE!"  
"Fucking DUDE! You jammy BASTARD!" Suddenly I received a slap on the back. It was rather harder than I was used to so I let out a shout and the guys took this as a cheer.

"Holy shit! She was so wet for you that is _unbelievable!_"

"I don't fucking believe it." I was a little dazed. So supposedly this girl wanted to screw me. It seemed that was her view of every man in this building, but I had taken her particular fancy.

"Dude, you are so lucky."

"I hardly think so." I replied incredulously. Three pairs of eyes stared back at me in disbelief and I smiled awkwardly, wondering if I should pretend it had been a joke.

"Are you gonna tap that?" Suddenly I realised I was being questioned again and not simply shouted at. The guys looked at me with eager eyes and I immediately scoffed.

"No. Of course not."

"Dude! This is _Natasha!_"

"Er, _I'm married_." I held up my hand again, even though nobody seemed to be paying any attention to it today.

"Who cares? Natasha will be the best fuck you've ever had. Just ask Carlton in taxes." As my co workers started telling me grand stories of Natasha's previous conquests I leant back in my chair and closed my eyes, wondering how on earth I ever got myself into these kind of situations.


	14. Chapter 14 Kurt

****_I'm about to start my new job on Thursday, so wish me luck! If you like this chapter give it a review because it will help me get through the stressful time. Lol :D_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 14**

I didn't even want to look at him. I imagined the expression on his face was triumphant – blowing my story out of the water. Why we were even still trading stories I had no idea, I had no idea why I hadn't left this godforsaken room hours ago. But most of all – I didn't know how he could even speak that bitch's name without feeling sick. I did whenever he said it.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" I asked as sarcastically as I could. Blaine looked in my direction and his expression flickered slightly.

"No." He seemed genuinely puzzled.

"Do you think you're clever – being an even bigger asshole than me?" I leant forward slightly, trying to make my point crystal clear. Sometimes I thought he just did this to rile me up – that he knew exactly what I was talking about and just wanted to see my face turn darker shades of pink.

"I wasn't being an asshole."

"So talking about being lorded over by some freakin _whore_, who is _female_ by the way, is just _a-ok_ in your book?"

"I wasn't lorded by her."

"Yes you were! Wasn't it great being _'Big Dick Blaine Anderson'_ – _king of the motherfucking office_! Did you enjoy watching her cream her pants over you and then joking about it with your stupid _douchebag_ mates? Weren't you a freakin _superstar!?_" Blaine seemed a little hurt. My voice had risen in volume and I was probably on about a 5 in the pink shade scale. I didn't care if he was upset. I wanted to hurt him as much as physically possible.

"That's just what you did." He suddenly replied.

"What?" I stopped my rant. "How did I do that?"

"You let yourself be lorded over. You know who I mean." Oh. I suppose he did have a point.

"But _he was male_!"

"That makes it worse! You were vaguely attracted to _him_." Funny how he wouldn't even say Frankie's name. At least I was able to mention Natasha. "I wasn't to her." Immediately I scoffed.

"Could've fooled me."

"Don't you _dare_ say that." Suddenly Blaine went to stand up. Brian immediately reached his hand out to hold him back and Steve moved to protect me – for a second the two solicitor's clashed gazes and both looked to fiercely protect their client. I'd never seen Steve so riled up, his normally immaculate shirt was ruffled and he looked like he'd been running his hands through his thin hair many times. It seemed this whole ordeal wasn't just affecting Blaine and I.

"I would have _died_ to protect our relationship." My husband continued. This time my laugh was in astonishment.

"Are we _really_ going there? _Seriously_?" I couldn't believe it.

"You know it's true. I would _never_ have been unfaithful to you," bullshit, "you were my entire _world_." This was ridiculous. I flung my hands up in the air, making Steve flinch and Brian move his arm abruptly in front of Blaine's face incase I was about to throw anything.

"But you still did it."

"I didn't have a choice. You did."

"What do you mean? I was never unfaithful to you!" Well, not really… Blaine sighed.

"I was always second best to one thing.

"And what exactly was that?"

"Your job."

* * *

The flowers were all wrong. I could feel my palms beginning to sweat, making the clipboard in my hands slide about so I clutched at it desperately and tried to keep my cool.

"The flowers." I suddenly exclaimed at Diego, who was rushing past me balancing a whole series of outfits in a big pile in his arms. "Get rid of them."

"What?" He replied, looking at me in confusion. "Get rid of them?"

"Yes. They're not right. Just do it." I was grateful he could tell I was stressed and not just shouting at him. When I'd envisioned my first show it hadn't looked at all like this. The guests were due to arrive in two hours and we were nowhere near finished.

"Ok Kurt, I'm on it." With a hasty smile my assistant rushed off and I sighed, leaning against the wall and closing my eyes as I tried to block everything out. It was all getting a little too much. The sound of the models being briefed drifted over from the other room and I figured I should go join them. They were wearing my designs after all.

_My designs_.

Designs I had worked on tirelessly for months and months – scouting out the fabric and cutting and sewing each individual piece (with a little help) to create these masterpieces of clothes. Each outfit was like a little piece of my soul. Checking my clipboard one final time I hauled myself away from the wall and walked proudly into the other room.

(*)

This was it.

The room was abuzz with people. So far nearly everyone I had invited had turned up – a good start for a fledgling designer – and for once I thanked Frankie and his PR contacts. He had been banned from coming anywhere near me during the show, especially with the way he tended to look at me any time we were within 5 feet in the studio, but I was still glad for his help. Diego had smartened up from his previous attire of slacks and a polo shirt and scrubbed up rather well. I felt rather like an older brother watching him greet guests and explain the tireless processes that had gone into making this evening. As I stared down at my own outfit, a black kilt teamed with a red shirt and long boots (something I had literally spent HOURS deciding on, with four previous changes) I smiled, finally feeling like I was getting somewhere.

"Are you ok Mr Hummel?" One of the bar staff asked me. I wanted to tell him that his hairstyle did nothing for the shape of his face and that I didn't really think the way he was holding his tray of drinks was going to be very good for his wrist, but managed to restrain myself.  
"Yes thank you." He smiled, obviously happy to be doing me service (even if it was just manners), and then slipped back off into the crowds to do his job. I watched him disappear and smiled, before checking my watch. I always wondered if it was 5 minutes fast, or if one person was just perpetually not on time.

"Hey baby." A voice diverted my attention from myself and I looked up to see my husband rushing up towards me. He looked a little flustered, as if he'd just come straight from work.

"Hey." We kissed, a brief but tender peck, and as we pulled away I looked him up and down.

"You're late."

"I know." He grimaced, knowing that this wasn't the first time we'd had this conversation. "I tried baby, I tried."

"Couldn't you have changed?" Blaine's remorseful expression faltered a little, before he looked down and realised that he was kind of dressed rather formally.

"Sorry. I had to stay for this meeting and it went on longer than I was expecting." His hand reached up to loosen his tie and I pushed it away, tightening it just a fraction again and then smoothing down his collar. Once I was satisfied with his clothes I moved to his hair, letting my fingers linger around his scalp as I brushed it down.

"I feel like I never get to see you anymore." I said, a hint of sadness in my tone. Blaine stared back at me with equally sad eyes, before I felt his hand take mine.

"Well you're busy too. I mean look at this!" Gesturing around the room, which was getting more crowded by the minute, he smiled and I couldn't help but smile back. "You've been sorting all this out."

"Yeah. While you look at some numbers on a computer screen." As my husband pouted I grinned, leaning my head against his shoulder and letting him hold me for a few seconds, before I realised it was probably unprofessional to be spending more time with my husband than potential buyers and straightening myself up.

"Come on, let's go talk to some people."

(*)

As I mingled through the crowds with Blaine at my side we talked to many different people, all of different shapes and sizes. They would ask something about the designs and I would give a long lengthy reply – I could tell my husband didn't really understand but he at least pretended to look interested.

(*)

"How long have you two been married?" I looked across from the well-dressed middle aged man and his wife to Blaine and smiled.

"Nearly a year now." He smiled back, squeezing my hand and gazing back into my eyes with genuine affection. "It's been a happy time."

"With _lots_ of hard work." My husband chimed in, happy to be able to give a reply as we weren't talking about silk or the latest brand of sewing machine. He grinned and the couple laughed - I couldn't tell if they were just being polite or genuinely found it funny.

"And what do you do?" I smiled again at Blaine's surprised reaction – that he was actually being asked a question.

"Um, I'm an accountant." He replied, suddenly bashful. The man waited for him to continue but when nothing came I decided to step in.

"He got an apprenticeship from college. Working with one of the best banks in the city – Gringle-"

"-Why don't we hear some more about your designs honey?" The response was abrupt. It caught me off guard and for a second I paused.

"Um…?"

"Nobody wants to hear about a stupid bank." Blaine laughed, squeezing my hand and leaning against me like he was finding his joke completely hilarious. The people we'd been talking to looked a little confused, but I smiled and moved quickly on. It was a little strange, I would have thought Blaine would have grabbed the chance to talk about the job he spent so much time doing with both hands. But he was right – this wasn't the night to be talking about finances. Unless they were going towards my designs.

(*)

The show was fantastic. Diego had done a fantastic job and pretty much all of my suggestions had been used. As I watched the models walk down the catwalk, showing off my designs to the 100 or so people in the room, it hit me how far I had come. How far Blaine and I had both come. I glanced over at him, about to say something, but saw his eyes fixed on the show, completely amazed. He might not be as involved with the process as I would like, but he still believed in it. Blaine believed in me.

In my peripheral vision something moved and I realised it was Frankie, fiddling with the lights. Immediately guilt pooled in my stomach and I turned away, cursing myself for letting it get to me. Blaine noticed and reached out his hand to place over mine, always caring, always concerned.

"Everything ok baby?" He asked. I smiled, as convincingly as I could, and rubbed the underside of his fingers with my knuckles.

"Yeah. Everything's great."


	15. Chapter 15 Blaine

**Chapter 15**

The bitter look on Kurt's face should have made me happy. That he finally realised that he'd picked the wrong side. The battle between me and his work had always been a one-sided one – one that no matter how hard I tried I knew I would never win. Although I supposed he'd had the exact same battle with Gringlends. Work ruled both our lives, there wasn't room for anything else.

"It was nice." I said, breaking the silence so everyone almost jumped. "That you had a good show."

"Oh _shut up_." Kurt's bitterness caught me off-guard – it was like being slapped sharply with something. The feeling brought back uncomfortable memories.

"What? I wasn't being malicious!"

"_Of course you weren't_. You _love_ hearing about my failure."

"But I don't! I was talking about the good things! That show! It was _good_!" For a second my husband stopped. He seemed surprised that I was actually telling the truth, that I'd actually _wanted_ him to succeed. I had. I hadn't wanted it to take over, to completely blind him just as Gringlends had me. But I'd wanted him to be happy. Fashion made him happy.

"_See_. I'm not the monster you think I am." I let myself have eye contact with Kurt but he immediately looked away. I watched his hands begin to play with the buttons on his blazer and once again thought back to the times it had been my fingers in that exact same position, usually ripping them apart.

"Do we have another story?" The man spoke and I looked across. It was funny how we were pretty much doing this on our own now, without even being prompted. Brian and Steve were pretty redundant, except for restraining us when things got too much. I'd never wanted to hurt Kurt, not really. Sometimes I used words to get out my frustrations but the sight of him in pain rarely brought me anything more than surface pleasure. Which meant the next few things I had to say weren't going to be much better.

"Yeah. I suppose you should know more about work."

* * *

You could not be serious.

I'd been in the middle of a meeting. A quite important meeting about shares and the movement of considerable amounts of cash. I'd been very proud to be given the deal and knew this meant Gringlends were nearly at the point of giving me a promotion. The meeting had been going well – the investors seemed happy with my figures and were on the brink of signing on that infamous dotted line.

Then Natasha came in the room.

(*)

What followed could only be described as a porno. After waltzing into the room wearing _the_ tightest skirt I had ever seen Natasha bent down next to me to whisper something in my ear about an appointment I had later, then she leant over to grab a pen from the other side of the desk displaying her dangerously visible cleavage to me and as she drew her hand back let it run precariously over my upper thighs.

"Working _hard _Blaine?" I tried not to notice the emphasis on a particular word, or the way she moved her hand up towards my crotch as she said it, as if hoping that I would be responding in the way she was suggesting. Shifting my position rapidly I cleared my throat, trying to motion with a glare that this was inappropriate. If Natasha noticed she didn't react.

"Boys?" She continued, now looking over to the men I was consulting with but still keeping both her hands on my body. I lifted my head to see them all staring back with astonished eyes, some even with their mouths open.

"It must be so nice to work with someone so _engaging_ as Mr Anderson-Hummel." Another hand ran over my chest and I squirmed, a tiny little noise coming out. Oh my God. If I managed to keep the deal after this it would be a freakin miracle.

"Natasha, eh hum," My voice was embarrassingly high and sweat had begun to break out on my forehead. "We're kind of in the middle of something."

"Oh sorry?" She replied, knowing full well what she had been doing. "Was I distracting you?" It was hard for her to disguise the coy smile and it made me angry.

"No. I'd just prefer it if you left." Sighing but nodding her head Natasha slowly lifted herself away from me. I turned my head to look away and waited until the sound of the door closing filled the room before I turned back. The investors looked like they'd been hit by a truck.

(*)

"I don't…I don't know what to say." I began my quick apology, desperately trying to salvage the situation that had been ripped apart and shat on by my promiscuous inappropriate co-worker. When we all left this room there was a tornado of shit coming her way. I was going to continue when suddenly one of the men spoke out.

"Is that your girlfriend?" My eyes widened.

"No. Of course not. I'm married." Murmurs were exchanged between the men. I wondered if this were a bad thing and I was about to be accused of cheating or maybe even inappropriate conduct in the workplace.

"Is she single?" You _had to be kidding me._ I coughed, trying to disguise the snort that came out of my mouth unexpectedly. The fairly old looking investor stared back like he was expecting an answer and I took a deep breath before replying.

"Um, yes? I guess so." Immediately he nodded, looking pleased, and I had to hold back the tirade of comments I wanted to shoot his way.

(*)

Eventually the meeting ended. I made the deal and old-guy investor immediately went shooting off looking for Natasha. He could have her for all I cared. It might get her off my back.

Exhausted from a few hours of debating I wandered back to my office. My feet took the long route as the thought of going back into a room with Brad, Blake and Tony was worse than what I'd just experienced. The busy New York streets outside were silent through the thick double glazed windows and I found it strange that I was metaphorically blocked out from the rest of the world. Inside here they were existing – but alongside, not with me. When I finally reached the room the usual chaos was ensuing. Brad was sitting in his chair across the other side of the room and Blake and Tony were trying to throw Skittles in his mouth.

"Hey bro." Blake said as I entered. I tried to walk over to my desk but had to dodge an incoming Skittle.

"Did you make the deal?" I sat down in my chair and went to log onto my computer.

"Yeah."

"Awesome. Gringlends' gonna be licking your ass!" Smiling I reached for my mouse, but saw a post-it stuck to the side of it.

"What's this?" I asked, holding up the note. Tony craned his neck to get a look before seeming disappointed.

"Oh. It's just a note from Sandra. Apparently some dude called Kurt kept calling the office asking for you."

_Shit_.

(*)

Immediately my blood went cold. Ducking my head down so the guys wouldn't see my now completely white complexion I leant it against the keyboard and tried to breathe. _Kurt had called_. Why hadn't I told him not to? What if he'd said something? His surname, his relationship to me, that I was his _husband_? Fuck.

Straightening up again I felt a little woozy so had to grab hold of my desk for support. Blake peered around his computer so I quickly smiled and pretended like nothing was wrong.

"You ok dude?" He asked. Shit. I couldn't let it seem like this was a problem.

"Yeah." I replied, knowing it was a crappy answer.

"Who is that guy? He called like six times, seemed pretty persistent." Shiiiit. I was really in it now. Although surely if my cover had been blown they wouldn't be acting so cordially to me…

"Yeah…" I replied again, stalling so I could think of a good cover. If he had said his surname then I couldn't go with the friend thing, and an ex boyfriend was definitely off the cards… Suddenly inspiration hit me.

"He's Quinn's sister." That was my wife's name right? Blake seemed confused for a second so I realised even he had forgotten. "My wife."

"Oh. Why is _he_ calling _you_?"

"I have no idea. Ever since we got married he just started getting real interested in my business. He even changed his name to ours because he said it made him more part of the '_family_'." Oh man, this was freakin terrible for Kurt but awesome for me. The excuse was perfect. Blake immediately raised his eyebrows, giving me the exact reaction I wanted. Even Tony and Brad were now listening.

"Dude, that's kinda messed up."

"I know. And now he won't leave me alone. Do you know what I think?"

"What?" I had them hooked.

"I think he's into me." Instantly they all recoiled.

"Eew! Dude that's totally gross!"

"Oh man that sucks for you!" For a second I was offended. Like they thought I wouldn't be attractive to anyone else. Then I remembered they were homophobes.

"Yeah, I know. _Big time_." My relief over covering myself was slightly tinged with the fact I had now reduced Kurt to a crazy stalker. Granted, all his future calls would now be screened, keeping me completely safe even if he decided to show up at the office unannounced. But I couldn't help but feel like the world's worst husband in that moment.

"Bro we're gonna have to set up security around here incase he tried to like lock you in a room or something."

"Yeah, he might take your leftover tissues and make a shrine of them." The guys were now on a roll, making up all kinds of weird scenarios where Kurt raped me in a cupboard or proclaimed me as his God. For people who didn't like gays they were incredibly good at coming up with different theories.

"I'm just gonna grab some lunch." I said as they continued to jabber to each other, getting up and leaving before they had time to say goodbye.

(*)

"Hey."

"Hey baby!" The café was fairly busy but I was sitting outside – being in a stagnant office meant I craved fresh air. There were people walking past on the sidewalk but I'd managed to secure a pretty secluded table so if anyone from the office came to the same place they wouldn't notice I was there.

"Hi." Kurt seemed happy to finally have me on the phone, the guilt crept in again so all I could say was another greeting back.

"How are you? I've been trying to contact you all morning."

"Yeah, about that." I immediately sensed my husband cutting himself off, like he knew I was about to say something bad. "You probably shouldn't call me at work."

"Why?" Oh man. The hurt in his voice killed me. "Why can't I call my husband?"

"It's not like I _don't _want you to call me…" I was desperately trying to make everything better, to bring the man I loved back to his happy cheery self. Most days it was only the thought of coming home to him at the end of the day that kept me going.

"But you don't." Seemed like that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"Work are pretty tight with that kind of thing. Personal calls and stuff. If I'm talking to you all the time they think it's unprofessional."

"_Unprofessional?_ I just want to check up on my husband, who I never see by the way, and see how he's doing! How unprofessional is that?"

"I know, I understand. It's not me who makes the rules."

"Well the rules _suck_." I could hear him sulking and almost laughed. Normally when Kurt sulked I kissed him on the nose and he eventually came through it.

"Come on. I can still call you during my lunch break."

"You'd better." It did cross my mind to mention the fact that the couple of times I _had _tried to call Kurt during the time I had off he'd brushed me off or simply handed the phone to Diego who told me he was busy with his work, but I figured that would only start an argument. I couldn't take any more arguments.

"Ok, so that's the deal? Lunchtime but not worktime?" Kurt murmured. For a second I wished more than anything that I could go back to the moment we'd first woken up together – the way his eyes had lazily but dreamily stared back at me, the way his skin had felt when I'd brushed my fingers against it and the way he'd sighed before leaning over to kiss me. Then I remembered that we hadn't been as well of then, that now we were both living our dreams.

"I've got to go now baby. I love you."

"I love you too."


	16. Chapter 16 Kurt

**Chapter 16**

"I still can't believe you did that." Blaine didn't look up. As he'd finished his story his eyes had drifted to the floor and I could tell he regretted it. I bet he regretted a lot of things. That didn't mean he hadn't done them.

"Did what." He mumbled, as if trying a feeble attempt at an argument.

"Made me your creepy stalker. Made me look like an idiot. Humiliated me."

"You never knew about it."

"That's what made it worse!" Now he looked up. For a second the hurt in his eyes made me falter but I wasn't going to let him get away with it that easily. "You did _all_ of this, all this…_business,_ and I had _no idea_! You were running your own little show and I didn't know I was playing a part." My husband looked down at the floor again, unable to hide his guilt.

"I did what I had to."

"What you _had _to? You didn't _have_ to do anything!"

"Yes I did!" Suddenly he looked back up again, fighting back. "I _had_ to do everything so I could save _your_ ass! And _you_ kept dropping me in it!"

"At least I wasn't actually stalking you like you said to all your little friends – then you would have been in some _serious_ shit." The tension had filled the room again. Every time I though Blaine was resigning he would suddenly find that little bit of energy to regain himself. I sometimes wondered if he did it not to let me win.

"If I may ask a question." The man suddenly spoke, drawing our attention away from each other and diffusing the argument that had broken out.

"Of course, I'm open to all _kinds_ of questions." I replied, emphasising just the right words to stick in my husband's chest.

"What was your sex life at this point in your relationship?" The loud laugh that spilt from my lips was like a bark. Brian jumped so hard his folder of files went flying and he had to scurry around picking them up.

"Sex life?" I scoffed. "What sex life?"

* * *

"Oh! Oh God!" The slap of skin on skin filled the room. I could feel my eyes rolling into the back of my head, the sheer pleasure coursing through me so I tried to grab onto it and keep it there. My legs squeezed around Blaine's waist, the muscles contracting and relaxing as I forced myself down onto his cock, wanting to squeeze out every bit of that sweet unforgiving pain. I leant my head back as the sweat dripped down my face and then rushed it forward to cry out one more time.

"BLAINE!"

My husband looked bored. Truly, bored. I'd wondered if the reason his hands weren't gripping tightly onto my legs pushing me down even further were because he was ripping apart the bed sheets, or finding another part of my body to beautifully molest, but they were lying limply at his sides. They could almost have been checking his emails on his phone. Immediately losing my libido I stopped moving – at this point Blaine finally tuned back in and seemed surprised that nothing was happening.

"Kurt?" He asked, reaching up a hand to run it across my upper thigh. Despite how nice it felt I batted it away and tried to look angry.

"Are you even enjoying yourself?" I asked. Finally he seemed to twig and looked embarrassed.

"Sorry. I'm trying."

"You're _trying_ to enjoy sex with your husband? _TRYING_?"

"Well I'm sorry I'm not always on all cylinders for you!" The retort caught me off guard and I shifted position, sending a jolt of pleasure through me that almost made me groan but I managed to suppress. Now Blaine seemed hurt – I couldn't understand why. I was giving everything I had and he seemed bored by it.

"You look like you're thinking about your next bank meeting!" That was the trigger. Sitting up, Blaine pushed me off him, his cock now flaccid anyway.

"You know what? I was. Because it's a very important meeting that I really _should_ be preparing for." Jesus Christ. He wasn't actually being serious?

"You dick." I replied. "I wait all day to spend some time with you and you brush me off for some stupid _meeting_?"

"No. What you do is come home 2 hours earlier than me, wait for me to walk through the door tired as fuck and then jump on me expecting me to be all hot and horny for you when all I want is to rest! My job is _hard_ Kurt, I have responsibilities. I can't just leave them behind for some sex."

"Well it's nice to know _something's _hard in your life!" Now extremely upset I stood up, expecting Blaine to reach out to pull me back after which I _might_ submit to some makeup sex. When he didn't I screamed in frustration and stormed out of the room.

(*)

As I fiddled around with the coffee machine, my vision too red to really do anything other than hit it, I could feel myself breathing loudly and angrily. How dare he do this. Blaine and I barely spent any time together anymore, now the little moments we did had were being ruined. It was always _him_ that did it. I never did anything wrong. I loved him, so much. Sometimes I wondered if he loved that stupid Gringlends more.

(*)

Eventually once I'd calmed down a little and I realised I was having a tantrum naked in our kitchen I silently sulked back to our room. Blaine was sitting on the bed, still unclothed but with his glasses on looking at some papers. I wanted to get mad at him again for not even being bothered about our fight, but the sight of him in such a position made me giggle. My husband looked up, almost surprised that I wasn't still shooting glares at him, and when I slowly crawled onto the bed next to him he didn't push me away.

"Whatcha doin?" I asked, poking my nose into his bubble and resting the side of my head on his shoulder. For a second he didn't respond, but then slowly began pointing out the different things on his piece of paper.

"These are the projected profits of the clients companies, and I'm looking at the costs of the things he wants to do to see if he can afford all of them." As his hand swept across the page I felt myself drifting off to sleep. Accounts were boring as hell, but I liked the way Blaine sounded when he talked about them. Professional, with just a little bit of passion thrown in there. I kind of wanted to fuck professional Blaine. I bet he would be no-nonsense, getting in there, maybe even a little rough and unforgiving. Professional Blaine certainly didn't have time to have sex with me though.

(*)

For a second I thought about Frankie. He had time to have sex with me. I was pretty sure he would drop anything to get his cock in there. I let my mind ponder on the thought for a moment, suddenly entranced by it, before abruptly I stopped myself. What was I doing? I didn't want that. Every time I saw Frankie I felt only annoyance – that he wasn't the person I wanted to be saying those things. Yes, it was kind of nice when he said them, and it reminded me I was considered attractive by _some_ people, but he wasn't Blaine. He wasn't my husband. And right now my husband wasn't interested.

"How much longer are you gonna be?" I asked, now snuggling properly into Blaine and not caring that he was probably finding it annoying.

"Not long. I'm nearly finished."

"You wanna have sex after then?" It was a wistful request, one that I wasn't expecting a positive answer to.

"No. We both need our rest." I knew I would sleep better sexually exhausted but gave in anyway, closing my eyes and letting myself slowly begin drift off to sleep. When Blaine finally turned off the light he shuffled down beside me, drawing my head onto his chest and tracing light patterns on the skin behind my ears as I listened to his steady heartbeat.

(*)

When I awoke the next morning the bed was empty. I was still strewn across Blaine's side – he'd obviously lifted me up delicately to get up and for that I was grateful. I pressed my nose into the sheet taking in a deep breath of his smell, before rolling over briskly and getting out of bed.

As I stood in the shower I realised I really didn't want to go to work. I'd expected a flood of offers after the success of my show, people knocking down the door wanting to get a piece of my designs. Sadly the response had been slightly less plentiful than that. Almost non-existent. I'd done a few one off designs for some clients but was beginning to risk my line becoming unwanted – _unfashionable_. Banging my head against the wall I wanted to go in even less.

"Hello?"

"Hi Diego!" I started the conversation off happily before remembering what I was doing and suddenly backtracking. "I mean, ehurgh, hi." My cough was a little staged but I hoped the raspy voice would set it off nicely.

"Hey Kurt. Are you ok, you don't sound too good."

"Yeah, about that. I really, EHURGH, want to come in today but I'm just, brrrrgh" I blew my nose for extra effect, "not feeling too great at the moment. And with the new clients coming in soon I don't want to infect everyone."

"Sure. I understand. You want me to hold the fort for you?" Bless him. I felt so bad for deceiving little Diego. But then again, I would have felt even worse going to work.

"You're a saint. I'll try and get back as soon as I can."

"Take your time. Hope you get better soon!" I said my goodbyes with one final cough and hung up, before throwing my phone in a celebratory fashion across the room.

"Hooray!"

(*)

Having a day off wasn't nearly as fun as I remembered it being. Whilst work hadn't been going well it was still work, and I liked being busy. I liked being in the thick of it all. I even liked working long hours, despite the fact it kept me away from Blaine. After half an hour with nothing on the TV and no real food in the fridge I was decidedly bored.

I thought about going out to do some shopping but didn't really feel like leaving the house. I _definitely_ wasn't going to do any cleaning so eventually the only thing to do was log onto my laptop. Ignoring all the work based jargon at the side I clicked on the internet and typed random things into Google.

I learnt about the life cycle of a fly.

I learnt that Australians often refer to cotton candy as "fairy floss."

I even tried to look up porn but decided against it when none of the characters looked like Blaine.

(*)

Eventually I ended up on internet shopping sites. Although not nearly as good as the real thing internet shopping was great when you were in a rush – I got half my fabrics from the same store. As I clicked on the home page my buying history immediately showed up and the related items displayed possibly the nicest piece of fabric I had ever seen. Clicking on the picture I saw it was Arabian silk, very rare and extremely good quality. Immediately my brain sprung to life. This could be what I needed to kick start the line. A dress made from Arabian silk – a _one of a kind_ dress made from _Arabian silk_. Who wouldn't want to buy that? I would make myself famous from one dress. I would make myself millions.

Immediately putting it into my basket without even checking the price I was already planning out the design in my head – how I would cut it, what bag I would team with it – and shoes you could hike up the price even further with shoes. It was only when I clicked to checkout that I saw the total.

$900.

Wow. For 6 feet. That was expensive.

For a second I dithered. Could I really afford to spend that much money on one piece of fabric? I wasn't sure I even had enough for that in my account,

_But Blaine and I did_.

(*)

That was it. Jumping out of my seat and nearly knocking over the hot chocolate I had made myself earlier in a desperate plea for entertainment I rushed to my purse and grabbed the card for Blaine and mine's joint account. He wouldn't mind. It was going towards our future – I would pay him back and more within a couple of weeks. Plus, that bank of his were paying him thousands, $900 wouldn't hurt.

Typing in the details and pressing purchase I watched with glee as the conformation email popped up and the one of a kind silk began its journey to my studio.


	17. Chapter 17 Blaine

_Hey guys. Sorry about the super late update, but those of you that are English and know about education will recognise the word 'Ofsted' when they hear it and know exactly why I haven't written much recently :S_

_Also I really need to stop eating Mexican takeaway as it seems to make me a little ill. Must be the cheese..._

_Liz xxx_

_P.S. I also wrote the start of this chapter whilst I was on PPA at school. Naughty Liz :D_

_P.P.S. Make sure you check out my Sambastian fic Twins! _

* * *

**Chapter 17**

Was it worth it?

That was the one thing I'd always wanted to ask him. Was it worth it. Kurt seemed to shake his head, as if he'd read my mind, before I realised I'd verbalised my thoughts out loud.

"It wasn't." The response caught me off guard slightly. It was nice to see him admitting something for once, taking responsibility for his actions instead of lumping it on me. Despite all we'd been through there were times where he never failed to surprise me.

"Why wasn't it?" We both turned to look at the man. For once I was as curious as he was.

"Because of the fight."

* * *

I stared down at my cup of coffee in envy. This coffee was everything I wanted to be. It only had one job - to be drunk. It didn't have hundreds of tasks thrown upon it, expectations to live up to, deadlines to meet. It was simple, effective, brought happiness. And it was warm. Working at Gringlends had taken all the heat out of me - I was a cold working machine, programmed to do just that - work. My coffee was the old me, and I drunk it with a chagrin.

"You don't look too great Blaine." Glancing up from my cup I saw the figure of my best friend sitting in front of me, a concerned look on his face. He was wrapped up against the cold (which I seemed to have forgotten about - maybe that was another side effect of becoming a robot) and looked to be shivering a little, but still put all of his focus onto me. Tyler was the only bit of warmth in my life at the moment. And that was worrying when I came home to my husband every evening.

"Is it that obvious?" I replied. Tyler looked embarrassed but didn't say anything back. I placed my now half-empty (not half-full, never half full) cup down on the table and rubbed my face in my hands. "Working in a bank is definitely not as glamorous as it seems.

"When was it ever glamorous?" I chuckled, seeing his point. "You've been watching too many TV shows Blaine."

"That's the thing - it is like a TV show. If you're the boss, you're the boss. Everyone else...well." My best friend swirled his drink with a stirrer and I watched the liquid spin round, forming a little mini whirlpool inside the mug. I missed Tyler. I missed talking to people I didn't work with or weren't filthy rich. I missed talking to someone that cared.

"It can't be that bad." He replied, now lifting his cup up to take a sip. "You wouldn't have worked so hard to get where you are if it was."

"I guess." I was well on my way to being Gringlends' right-hand man - my status as intern had pretty much been wiped away and I was now a full blown member of the team, my pay packet increasing every month.

"One day it'll be you in that swanky office ordering everyone around. You'll see."

"Well I think I have a few more problems to overcome before that moment arrives." The scary thought was that my giant mahogany desk with brass nameplate perched upon it wasn't far away. The even scarier thought was that I might not have Kurt to share it with.

(*)

For a second I took my eyes away from my friend and towards the busy streets of New York. Even in this small side street there were people everywhere, all moving around at top speed, all with their own agendas. There was always a problem to be solved in New York, a new thing to try - it never seemed to have a break. Sometimes I knew how it felt.

(*)

"Are things still bad with Kurt?" I groaned, not even wanting to answer.

"Yes. I don't know what to do." My posture slumped, almost as if I'd been trying to hold it back and Tyler sighed.

"Have you tried talking to him about it?"

"That's all we ever do. Or rather he talks at me, tells me what I'm doing wrong, should be doing. It's driving me crazy."

"Isn't he a bit like that though?" I smiled sarcastically. I guess they said you got to know your partner best when you lived together. I now knew Kurt was very very controlling.

"We haven't had sex in weeks." I continued, not minding that the conversation had now become very personal. I talked to Tyler about these things all the time, just as he did about the string of girls he had tried and failed to keep hold of. "Every time we try it just feels wrong. Mostly Kurt just jumps on me and expects me to be all guns blazing - like I haven't spent all day doing other energy-sapping things. But even when I want to, when I'm not about to fall asleep or have a deadline to reach, it's just..." I paused, wondering what I was trying to say. "I love Kurt. I really really do. But there's no fun in our relationship anymore. It's all business."

God. Business really had taken over our lives. Tyler sighed. I watched him drain the rest of his drink, mine still lying unwanted, growing slowly cold like I had over the last two years, and then sit in silence for a while, pondering.

(*)

"I know." He finally replied after what seemed like hours. My forehead creased.

"Know what?"

"That you love him. It's written all over your face every time you talk about him. You wouldn't be under this much stress if you didn't." Well that was reassuring. The fact I didn't want to have sex with my husband meant I cared about him deeply. "You're scared."

"Too right I'm scared." That pretty soon we'd be living in separate houses, eating separate meals.

"Then do something about it." I looked up at my friend.

"What do you mean?"

"If you want things to change, _make them change_. Show him you care." For a second I didn't know how to respond. Show him I cared? How could I do that?

"You'll know what to do." I jumped, wondering if Tyler had read my mind, but he simply just laughed and I followed suit.

(*)

Sitting at my desk back at the office I thought deeply about what Tyler had said. He was right - there was no use sitting around moping about what wasn't happening with Kurt and mine's realtionship if I wasn't going to do something about it. Maybe that was all we needed - a spark, a kick start. A gesture. Finally I knew what I was going to do. Ignoring the protocol of not running personal errands during work I found the flower website, ordered a bunch of Kurt's favourite lilies and pressed send, smiling to myself as the conformation went through. That was it. That was what would be the plug to our holes. Hopefully they would arrive before I got home, when I would also have a bottle of wine in my hands and a night of just spending time with my husband.

"You look happy." Blake enquired, having peered over from his desk and noticed my cheerful demenour. I leant back in my chair, lifting up my hands to slot them behind my head and grinned.

"Yeah, I am." I replied, for the first time in a long while believing what I was saying. It felt nice to finally do something right for once. I knew Kurt was going to love it, and that he might forgive me for some of the precious bonding hours I'd missed tryng to provide for our future because of it. "You know what…" My brain flicked into gear. I didn't want to stop just there. I had a ton of money now - what use was it sitting in our joint account if we didn't use it for something? Kurt and I deserved a holiday. A good one, with sun and sea, sand and _lots _of marital sex_. _Typing in holiday destinations into Google I smiled, feeling the warm air and salty water on my face already. I brought up our bank staement up in another tab as I waited for the options to load to work out what I actually had to work with.

_What._

(*)

The door crashed open like I was starting a raid.

"Blaine!" Kurt exclaimed, rushing up to throw his arms around me. He was clutching the flowers, which had obviously arrived right on schedule, complete with my beautifully written message about how much I loved and missed him. The smile on his face was beaming and he looked overjoyed. The saddest thing was that for a moment we were the most interested in the other we'd been for a long time. I almost let him reach me before letting out the bloodcurdling shout that stopped him dead in his tracks.

"_How dare you_!" My husband looked like he'd been shot.

"How dare I what?" He seemed genuinely confused, like the way I'd entered was a complete mystery to him. _No way._

"You fucking know what." I replied, almost unable to believe it myself. "YOU FUCKING KNOW!" Grabbing the flowers from him I wrenched the head off one, making him whimper and jerk out his hand instinctively. "HOW DARE you use our money to buy $900 fabric!" Kurt's face fell. The fact he knew it had been wrong made me even angrier.

"Blaine…" he replied, his tone already desperate, "it's only a loan, I'll pay it all back I swear."

"When were you going to tell me about this?" I yelled. "Tonight? Tomorrow? When our check arrived? Were you _ever_ going to tell me about this?" My husband looked at the ground - for someone so mouthy normally he'd suddenly lost the ability to use his tongue.

"I'll pay it all back…"

"I don't want you to pay it back!" I shouted back, ripping off another flower head as I did so. "I want you to give back the fucking fabric!" _Fabric_. I couldn't believe _this_ was what jeopardized our already fragile marriage.

"I can't Blaine." My husband whimpered back. "I've already used it."

"For what?" He didn't want to reply. "FOR WHAT?"

"A design…" That was it. Throwing the rest of the flowers on the floor I stamped on them repeatedly, like I was trying to squash all the life out of them. The little sachet of plant food burst open and spread its contents all over our expensive floor.

"You do all this for a _design_? You spend _my_ money that I spent _months_ saving up-"

"-Hey." Suddenly Kurt interrupted. My tirade of anger had gotten me worked up and it took a second to calm down "Did I just hear your say _your _money?" Shit. I suppose it had slipped out.

"Yes." I answered, deciding to be honest. "I _did_ say my money."

"I thought in a marriage you shared everything?" Now my husband looked put out. I couldn't believe he was even permitting himself to get angry after what he had just done.

"Some things shouldn't be shared. Especially when only one person is contributing to it." Kurt's anger grew.

"Are you saying I don't put any money into this relationship? Who gave us this fucking house?"

"When was the last time your business made any money?" Things were getting personal now. All the anger that had been building inside me for so long, all the things I'd kept hidden, locked away in the corner of my mind, were pushing themselves free and out of my mouth. "I see you put money in – _lots _of money in – but nothing ever comes out!" Kurt gasped. He seemed almost unable to respond, but I knew he would.

"How dare you."

"How dare you? How dare you! You think I'm just some sort of _charity_ – that I just work my ass off for you to spend money on _whatever the fuck you want_?"

"It was for the business!" He retorted. "For us!"

"No it wasn't. The business has never been for us. It's for you and only you."

"Ok _fine_. Shall I keep a total then? Shall I write every _fucking _thing I spend money on from now on?" Kurt grabbed hold of the notebook we kept by the phone, scribbling something frantically on the first page and shoving it in my face.

"See! Here! I spent $2 on my subway fare home, I spent $10 on the wine we're drinking tonight. I breathed some air in our fucking house does that cost money now?" I knocked the notebook out of his hand, sending it clattering to the floor and skidding across past the remains of the flowers. "Is this what happens now Blaine? Do you become the bank?"

"I was the bank." I finally replied, shrugging off my coat and hanging it neatly on the hook by the door. My heart was aching and my mind was exhausted. I couldn't take much more of this. "I tried to hard _to_ be because I thought that was what you wanted. What would make this work. But not anymore."


	18. Chapter 18 Kurt

_Thank tumblr being down for this update! Some smut, but not the kind you will like... :S_

_Liz xxx_

* * *

**Chapter 18**_  
_

That fight had been hard. I'd kicked and I'd screamed but somehow nothing had made me feel any better. It wasn't out first fight and it certainly wouldn't be our last. But it felt like the beginning of the end.

"What happened after the fight?" The man asked. I had to give him credit for keeping this going – Brian and Steve seemed exhausted, like they'd given up. I didn't know how long this had been going on for but it seemed like hours.

"Kurt made the biggest mistake of his life." My husband suddenly spoke. I focused back on him and saw him glaring at me. It was that same glare I'd seem during the argument. And the argument after _that day_.

"What? Even bigger than the silk?" Ha. It seemed the man was on Blaine's side with 'silk-gate'.

"Yup." I replied. "Even bigger than that."

* * *

Shit. I really was in the doghouse. Blaine had put me on temporary probation – I wasn't allowed to access anything from our joint account for a week. Luckily I still had a small amount left over from my business to tide me over for the important things (coffee and clothes – essential) but it did mean I actually had to go to work. I hated my warehouse now – it just reminded me of how much of a failure I was. The silk had been a disaster – nobody had wanted it and now the sight of the manikin with it on, carelessly stuffed away so it wouldn't be in my constant vision, just made me want to scream. How had this happened? I knew everything about fashion, people should have been camping outside for my designs. But it hadn't worked. And now I was screwed.

(*)

"Mr Hummel-Anderson?" I looked up from my seat and sighed at the nervous intern standing in front of me. Why the heck had I hired an _intern_? Somebody to work for free I guess. The sound of my name, my full name, made me grit my teeth. Every time I heard that stupid _Anderson_ part I just thought of Blaine. Blainey Blaine, with his high class big bucks job in a fancy office with fancy suits and slutty receptionists. I hated that he'd made it big. He wasn't supposed to be the rich one. I was.

"What." I replied, not really caring what the intern had to say. I couldn't even muster up the enthusiasm to remember their name.

"I think we've run out of sewing thread." My eyes opened properly.

"What?" How could that have happened?

"I don't know what went wrong, I just looked in the store cupboard and there's none left. We can't work the machines." Fuck. If we couldn't work the machines then we couldn't make the clothes. That nobody wanted anyway.

"What do you want us to do?" I looked at the intern. She hadn't been here very long, looked kind of young, scared. Like I had been once. She definitely wasn't married.

"I asked you to get more thread." I replied, coldly, calmly. "Last week. I asked you to order it."

"But sir I'm sure that was your jo-"

"I asked you to order it and you forgot. You _failed_. And now we can't work the machines. You're fired." Immediately nervous intern gasped.

"Pardon?"

"You're fired. Now get out of my sight before I cut your pay for this month too." Turning round in my chair I knew I should feel bad about this. It probably had been my job to get the thread, just as it was my job to make this company money – which I wasn't doing very well at either. But I just needed to feel in control.

"My Hummel-Anderson you can't _fire _me! I didn't do anything wrong!"

"What you're doing _wrong_ is cluttering up my warehouse with your awful haircut and fashion sense. Now _get out_ before I call the cops on you." The whole room had gone silent. Everyone was staring at me. For once I kinda liked it. Intern seemed embarrassed and a little angry, but now I had threatened her quickly gathered up her things and rushed out of the door. I heard sobs as she left.

(*)

Once the door had closed again I turned to look at my workers. Not one of them seemed happy. Maybe they wished I would fire them too. Diego took a tiny step forward, moving gingerly, as if I were going to bite his head off at any point.

"Kurt…" He began, "…don't you think that was a little…_rash_?"

"I am the boss, I make the decisions." I replied. I was about to turn round and continue my work when I realised I still wasn't satisfied.

"And you know what?" I turned back round, making a few people jump who'd obviously thought I'd finished. "If you don't like it – then you can get the fuck out too. _All of you_. I'm giving you the day off. Now _get out_." My staff looked confused. A couple looked to each other, trying to figure out if I was joking or not, others stayed frozen as if they would get fired too if they moved. Diego seemed upset.

"You heard me! This is _my_ warehouse, I want to be in it _ALONE. _GET OUT!" Suddenly it was like a rush. Everyone grabbed their things and ran, like the building was on fire and an escape route had finally been carved out. I watched them so in satisfaction, leaning back in my chair until only Diego was left.

"Kurt…?" He said again, taking another step closer, but I turned around, blocking him from my view too.

"That includes you too Diego." I replied. "Don't think you can solve this problem. You're not my friend." For a second there was silence. I could tell Diego was wondering whether to ignore my advice or not. For a second I wanted him too. Then I heard him quietly turn, walk across the room and out of the door.

(*)

I hung my head. I'd really done it now. I had no money, no workers, no real job. I didn't even really have a husband anymore. I had nothing.

And I wanted so much. I wanted to rewind time, back to when Blaine and I had met, to when he would have done anything for me, dropped anything. That cute little coffee shop apron he'd worn and the way his hair had curled without gel. The way he'd press his nose into my neck and just breathe me in, the tickle of his breath on my skin as he kissed me. The way it felt when he _touched_ me.

(*)

Sliding down in my chair slightly I tried to picture the last time Blaine and I had _touched_. Not recently – none of those were ever what I'd really wanted. I thought back to when I'd been at college. Blaine had come into my room, breathing heavy, eyes black. He'd grabbed hold of me and said.

"Kurt – _I need you_." I said the words to myself, trying to put on Blaine's tone of voice. I could almost get it perfectly, like he was really here. I'd pulled him close, down onto the bed, groaning over how hard he was and how quickly I was following suit.

"Take me Blaine. I'm all yours. _Take me_."

(*)

Immediately I shoved my hand down my trousers. It wasn't the same as Blaine's but it was good enough and the picture in my head made it perfect. Palming myself roughly I let out a loud groan and repeated the motion, wanting more. Blaine's movements had been desperate, his mouth pressing sloppy deep kisses to my neck as I panted, our bodies writhing together. I struggled to move my hand further so took the other one away from its vice-like grip on the chair to undo my zipper. The freedom made me groan again and I palmed myself faster, wanting the release so badly.

"_Kurt_." Blaine had moaned. "_Kurt_ you're so _hard_. I want you so badly."

"I want you too baby." I breathed back. "Give it to me. Give me everything."

(*)

Suddenly I felt a hand push mine away. Was this real? Not wanting to break the illusion I kept my eyes shut, rocking my hips up and down to try and keep the sensation I'd been feeling going. I had to be imagining it. There was nobody else here. The new hand returned, sinking down my boxers and grabbing hold of me roughly so I cried out, and moaned some more when it began pumping. Sweet Jesus. My brain was _good_. I'd never imagined a hand job as good as this before.

"Yes!" I breathed, thrusting up into the hand, wanting that friction more than anything in the world. "Yes! More!" The hand moved faster, calloused hands sending my brain wild. I was unsure how I was even able to keep the fantasy going. "Give it to me!" Abruptly the hand moved away. I cried out, hands grabbing for it back, two hands. The cold air stung against my dick and – wait – were my boxers down? I hadn't done that. Wondering what the hell was going on I was about to open my eyes when it happened. A mouth went over me.

My heart stopped. Oh sweet lord. This was what I had craved for so long. I blow job. I loved blow jobs. I loved them with all my heart and soul. And I was getting one.

"FUCK!" The mouth started moving. I immediately thrust up, not caring if I was choking them, not caring if they died. My whole body was going crazy but then I realised this had to be real. I could fake a hand job but not a blow job. Not this amazing sensation. Somebody else was doing this.

Finally gritting my teeth and opening my eyes I looked to see who it was. For a second I thought it was Blaine.

"_Frankie_?" Oh FUCK. Diego's cousin looked up at me, my cock still wedged in his open mouth. Oh FUCK.

(*)

"Frankie SHIT Frankie stop STOP!" Pushing him away I almost moaned as I was exposed to the cold air again. Frankie lost his balance and fell to the floor, a string of saliva following him so he wiped his mouth and looked at me in satisfaction.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I asked, still a little out of breath. "Why are you still here?"

"I was out getting thread. Didn't hear your memo." He smacked his lips, obviously enjoying the taste of me. I could feel the panic rising over my sexual arousal.

"You can't just come in and start _sucking me off_!"

"You looked so desperate. So…_sexy_. I couldn't resist." Shit. I sat up in my chair, trying to fiddle around for my zipper but not finding it. My cock was still painfully hard, and the thought that what I'd been about to experience was out of reach made it throb even harder.

"You taste so good Kurt. I could taste you all day."

"SHUT UP! I screamed, my voice reaching an extremely high octave "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"I want to please you Kurt, I know you need pleasing. I can see it in your face. Your husband aint doing you no good." I was about to scream some more, order Frankie out the room, maybe even fire him. But then I stopped.

Maybe I could have this one thing. Blaine would never know. He couldn't tell when I'd had sex anymore, he didn't care. And I wasn't going to get anything from him any time soon. Surely I deserved just this _one_ moment?

(*)

"Finish." I said quickly, so quickly I tried to kid myself it hadn't come out. Frankie paused.

"What?"

"Finish." I replied again. "Quickly. Do it." For a second he looked confused, unsure, then a huge smile spread across his face.

"Really?"

"QUICKLY!" Closing my eyes I tried to get the fantasy back, the one I'd had before about Blaine and the college dorm. My mind was blank. Frankie shuffled over, almost falling into me in his attempt to get his mouth over my cock as soon as possible. When I felt it sink over again I knew this was wrong, this was about the most wrong thing I could do in my entire life. But I wanted it. And I didn't care.

"OH, GOD!" Frankie began to move, I thrust against him, pulling his head down, making him take every inch of me. I thrust and thrust, moaning again and again, until eventually, I came.

(*)

When the orgasm had died down Frankie tried to carry on sucking, trying to get out every last drop, but I pushed him away, my whole body limp. That had been amazing. Completely wrong and disgusting, but amazing.

"You're fired." I murmured, speech almost impossible as I sunk deep into my chair. "Fired…"


	19. Chapter 19 Blaine

_Yo yo_

_Once again, sorry for the late update. This story is nearly finished now - just when I finally have a weeks holiday coming up! Lol. It will definitely be finished before November 3rd._

_So this is probably the penultimate chapter, maybe the penultimate penultimate depending on whether or not I split the last chapter in two._

_And I don't like giving away plot but I suppose I'm gonna have to give a trigger warning - rape :S_

_Thanks for sticking around_

_Liz xxx_

* * *

**Chapter 19**

How could he.

I still couldn't even bring myself to fathom the thought, the thought that that was ok. To _cheat on me_.

"Don't look at me like that." Kurt suddenly spoke and I flicked back to reality. I hadn't realised I'd even been looking in his direction but apparently I had.

"Like what?"

"Like I'm a criminal."

"It felt like you were." He shuffled in his seat, breaking eye contact for a second.

"Well you can hardly talk. You did the same thing."

"What I did was _not_ the same." I snapped back, the most vicious I'd been this whole meeting. "Don't you _dare_ say that." My body shuddered at the memory, but I realised I was going to have to tell it.

"Do you want to proceed Mr Anderson?" The man asked. I took a deep breath, and nodded.

* * *

When I heard the sound of the door opening I didn't get up from my seat. I'd decided to come home early from work today to at least show a little willing, but really needed to get this proposal done. There was a little rustling and shuffling – I listened carefully until I heard approaching footsteps and turned my attention to the screen.

"Hi." I thought about not looking, but realised that was too rude and so rotated my head to glance at the door. Kurt was leaning against it, looking more than a little sheepish. Too right. There was no way he was out of the doghouse yet.

"Hi." I replied back, as plainly as I could.

"You're home early."

"I know." It wasn't that I wanted to punish Kurt – I never wanted to hurt him and sadistic control plays were never my thing. But he had to realise that what he had done was wrong. He couldn't just do round doing whatever the hell he wanted. Hovering by the door for a couple of seconds I saw my husband rub the back of his neck nervously.

"Thank you." He eventually replied. I was a little surprised.

"No problem." For a moment our eyes met and I saw a sadness inside his – I wanted to ask about it but he quickly looked away and brushed down an imaginary piece of fluff on his jacket.

"Do you want me to start dinner?" Once again the question confused me a little. I was very unlike Kurt to volunteer to cook – especially recently.

"Um, yes please. What are we having?"

"Not sure, I'll try and rustle something up." I leant back in my chair slightly, my shoulders relaxing from their hunched position, and smiled.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Kurt left the doorway and I looked back at my computer screen, confused.

(*)

Maybe I was being too hard on him. To be fair, it had only been a bit of money. Well, quite a lot of money, but I had plenty of that, more than even Kurt knew about. And it wasn't as if he had cheated or anything. It seemed my husband was finally trying to make amends, and if that was in the form of a well-cooked dinner, well that suited me fine. Checking where I was on my list of numbers I made a resolution to finish my work as quickly as I could and join him in the kitchen.

(*)

Once I was finally done the smell of chicken and bacon was wafting through the apartment and I licked my lips as I made my way to the room where my husband was. He was concentrating hard on the oven tray and barely noticed me approach until I placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Smells delicious." To my surprise he flinched a little at my touch, but immediately pulled himself together and seemed pleased to see me.

"It's done. Wanna try?" Holding out a spoon I saw a little piece of chicken with bacon and cream cheese smothered over it. Yummy.

"Yes please." Still keeping my hand on his shoulder I leant my head forward and he fed me the morsel – it was hot and I had to hold my hand over my mouth but it still tasted amazing.

"Ah. Hot." Kurt giggled, nudging his shoulder against mine as he did so, and after swallowing I smiled back. For some reason it felt like we were courting again – both of us were nervous but I could feel the spark flickering back to life.

(*)

Ushering me over to the table Kurt finished dishing out our food and when he brought it over I realised how hungry I actually was. It would be nice to have this kind of moment every day – coming home to a cooked dinner. Of course I wanted Kurt to have a career, but he seemed quite happy in this role for now. As my plate was placed in front of me he looked for my approval and I smiled, picking up my knife and fork and looking at the food eagerly.

"Let's dig in."

The silence over the meal wasn't awkward. Normally it was, but today it seemed right. The food was delicious and as I listened to the sound of my jaw chomping I glanced over and Kurt and saw him enjoying the same pleasure. How had we managed to lose this – the simple things that just seemed to slot together.

"How was work?" My husband suddenly asked. Wow, he really was making an effort. My work was strictly off limits most dinners.

"Um," I replied, not really knowing how to respond due to the rarity of the situation, "it was ok. Good."

"What are you working on at the moment?"

"Just a proposal. For another big company."

"Wow. Sounds good."

"Yeah, it is." And a lot of money. I wanted to add the comment on but wasn't sure if it would make Kurt happy or not. I could never tell if making money was a big deal to him, or whether it was the person that made it that had the most significance.

"When do you give it?"

"Tomorrow. Hence why I was…" I wafted my hand in the direction of my study and Kurt nodded, understanding. Jesus. What had happened? It was like a completely different Kurt was sitting in front of me. An understanding one.

"What about you?" I asked, wanting to repay the same favours my husband was kindly giving me. Kurt suddenly looked on edge.

"Oh. My work was boring today. Nothing interesting."

"Oh." I saw the grip on his cutlery tighten but decided not to comment. Maybe he was just uptight about our success differences currently.

(*)

Eventually both our plates were clean and before I could get up to collect them Kurt had whisked them both off to the sink and began running the hot water. I chuckled, standing slowly up and strolling over to where he was standing.

"Thank you, for this." I murmured once I reached him. I stood behind him but slightly to the side and spoke into his ear, Brushing back a piece of hair just above as I did so. Kurt shivered.

"I'm so glad we're both on the same page." I looked down at the bubbles that were beginning to appear from the washing up liquid – my finger dipped down to collect a few and playfully I wiped them on Kurt's cheek. He immediately jerked away but made an adorable squeak. I laughed and slipped my arm round his waist.

"Mr Anderson-Hummel." He teased, sounding shocked. I grinned, scooping up some more bubbles and this time dabbing them on his nose. Kurt squeaked again and I laughed, before my own face received a dousing. As we began to play fight I moved my hands to grab his and held them both above our heads, laughing more than I had in weeks and staring deep into my husband's eyes. Suddenly he launched himself forward – I was a little taken aback but when our lips connected immediately all the surprise was gone and only desire remained. I'd missed Kurt's lips so much, the way they tasted, the way they felt. It was like settling back into an old routine – I deepened the kiss and he responded, wrapping his arms around me so I never wanted to let him go.

(*)

For a while we stayed like that – locked together, savouring the moments we had missed for so long – but then Kurt pulled away and stared into my eyes.

"I missed you." He said, suddenly seeming emotional. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too." Kissing him again I wondered how we could have gone without this for so long, all the petty fights, the niggling at each other. I would forgive a thousand $900 purchases if I could keep this moment forever. As we broke away again Kurt grabbed hold of my hand, pulling it towards the door so I dutifully followed. We walked slowly through the hallway, stopping every so often to kiss each other sensually, and I felt the happiness grow inside me. Pressing Kurt lightly against the wall I suddenly saw the answer machine flashing and turned our heads gently towards it.

"Do you wanna check our messages?" I asked, smiling and running my lips across his as I did so. Kurt giggled, kissing me a couple of times before nodding. Pressing the button with my free hand I rested my nose against his cheek, closing my eyes momentarily so I could listen to the messages.

"Hi Kurt this is Carol." Kurt's mom left a message about him calling her back – we'd both been a little bad about keeping in touch with our families recently. The pair of us chuckled and I kissed him softly on the jaw as we waited for the next message.

"Kurt, it's Diego. What the fuck happened today man?" Suddenly Kurt's hand flashed out to stop the machine.

I pulled away.

(*)

"Kurt?" My husband's face looked panicked – for a second I was concerned, before the realisation hit me.

"Kurt? Was that Diego?" Silence. "What did he want?" I left space for him to answer. Space for him to prevent what would happen if he didn't.

"What happened at work today?"

"Nothing Blaine, nothing!"

"You said nothing interesting happened and then Diego rings you with that?" Now my body had moved away from Kurt completely, I saw him reach out to grab my hand again but jerked it away.

"Play the message Kurt."

"No!" My husband went to grab the answer machine – seeing what he was doing I shot my hand out and yanked his away, making him cry out.

"_Play the fucking message Kurt. Now_." Squirming in my grasp Kurt began to breathe deeply, I squeezed his hand tighter and felt my anger grow until eventually he pressed replay.

"Kurt, it's Diego. What the fuck happened today man? You fire half your freaking staff? That's just crazy man, you can't do that! How are we supposed to carry on with the line if you don't have anybody to work with you? And then Frankie rings me saying you let him suck you off or something-"

My whole body went cold.

(*)

The sound of a crash brought me back to life – before I could even work out what was happening Kurt screamed and I realised the answering machine was now on the floor in bits. My hand throbbed from where I'd hit it and my other was still gripped onto his.

"YOU LET FRANKIE SUCK YOU OFF?" My voice was louder than I'd ever heard it before, Kurt shrunk back into the wall and tried to get away but I didn't let him.

"_YOU LET FRANKIE SUCK YOU OFF_?"

"I'm sorry! I was doing it myself, thinking of _you_, then he just came out of nowhere and I didn't know what to do!"

"You tell him to stop! _That's what you fucking do_!" Throwing my hands into the air Kurt was finally released, he fell to the floor but this time didn't try to run away.

"Blaine I'm sorry! I couldn't help myself!" Couldn't help himself? Oh Jesus Christ.

"When were you going to tell me about this?" I asked, realising the other side of his betrayal. "When were you going to tell me you got your cock sucked by another guy? Where you _ever_ going to tell me?"

"Yes! Yes of course I was!"

"No you weren't! You thought coming in here and cooking me a freaking _dinner_ would solve everything! That your cheating little ass would get off _Scott free_ and I would never know! YOU LIED TO ME!" Feeling tears build in my eyes I smacked my hands against my head, wondering how I could ever have been so stupid. We were too broken. Our problems couldn't be solved with a little chicken and some bubbles.

"Blaine please! I'll make it up to you!"

"I'm going to work." Shoving my begging husband away I grabbed my keys from the nearby shelf, storming towards the front door and slamming it shut behind me.

(*)

_Shit_.

I smacked the wheel of my car in frustration, making the horn sound loudly so you couldn't hear my swearing. How could I have been so stupid? Kurt wasn't kind and considerate anymore. He only cared about himself. Him and his stupid cock. Digging my face into my hands I felt hot tears stain them and screamed some more. Why was I even crying. He didn't deserve my tears.

Getting out from my car I slammed the door behind me and made my way to the building. Funny how the place I most called home now was my office. Jumping up the steps two at a time I scanned my way in and took the elevator up to our floor. Ahhh. Somehow the silence and smell of a clean empty office was soothing to me.

(*)

I walked over to my desk, kicking away Blake and Tony's chairs, and plonked myself down, switching on my computer and leaning back so I could stare at the ceiling. As the buzzing and whirring of the modem filled my ears I wondered what on earth was going to happen now. I could forgive Kurt for a bit of fabric, but this? I wasn't sure I could ever let go of this. He'd wanted another guy. Maybe not in the same way as most cheaters, but he'd wanted it. And he must have enjoyed it because he didn't stop. He didn't stop. Rubbing my hands over my face I tried not to cry again. Maybe I would just sleep here tonight. Wake up early and go freshen myself up in the toilets. I was still wearing my work clothes, nobody would notice. Then perhaps I would stay at Tyler's the next night. The login page flicked on and I paused my thoughts to type in my details, as I pressed enter I swore I saw the shadow of somebody flash across the blinds.

"Hello?" My whole body tensed – sitting bolt upright in my seat I perked my ears and called out again. "Is somebody there? Show yourself!"

The light flicked on and I saw the door swing open, a figure standing to the side of it.

"Hello Blaine." Immediately my heart sank.

"Hi Natasha." Great. What was she doing here. I was in the middle of a life crisis – I didn't need some slutty girl fawning all over me. Turning my attention back to the computer I hoped she would just take my hint and go away.

"What are you doing here so late?" She didn't. Sighing I glanced back and saw she was walking slowly over.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Is your wife not at home?" Natasha replied, a sexy smirk on her face. "Can't she, _make you tired_?" Ergh. Grimacing I clicked open the document I had been working on at home and tried to collect my thoughts together so I could finish it.

"Sadly I don't have that tool. A _husband_. I have to make myself tired in different ways…" I felt a hand run across the back of my shoulders and immediately flinched, wheeling my chair away.

"Look, I didn't come here to have you bother me so can you just, go do something else? Make me a drink or something." I rubbed my eyes and looked away, hoping she would get the hint. Sighing loudly Natasha removed herself from her position behind me and slowly walked out of the room.

Finally. If I had known that would be all it would take to stop her terrorising me I would have done it weeks ago. Settling back into my work I almost forgot about her being there, about why I was in the office in the first place. I almost forgot why I was broken.

(*)

Fifteen minutes later Natasha appeared through the door again. I was about to order her out but saw her holding a mug and realised she had actually made me the drink I'd asked for. Grateful for some coffee I waved her over and when she handed it to me immediately took a deep sip. Ergh. It tasted funny, like the mug hadn't been washed properly and something was still in there.

"I thought you were supposed to be _good_ at making coffee?" I asked disdainfully, placing the mug on the side and wiping my mouth. Natasha smiled.

"Oh, _I am_." I figured she would leave now that her job was done, but annoyingly she stayed. Her bottom perched on Blake's chair and she watched me carefully. I wasn't quite sure what she was waiting for but carried on with my work regardless, hoping she would eventually get bored and leave me in peace.

"Why _are_ you here Blaine?" Annoyed that the silence had been broken, I glanced over in annoyance.

"I _told you_ – I couldn't sleep."

"Did you and your wife have a fight?"

"No."

"Then why aren't you in bed with her?"

"_I wanted to work_!" The shout caught us both off guard – Natasha wheeled back a little but then seemed pleased, moving back forward.

"Oh. That's interesting." I didn't reply. The tap of fingers on keys filled the room and seemed to emphasise the silence that existed around it.

"You know what I think?"

"Oh gee, I don't, but I'm sure you're gonna tell me." Natasha moved a further metre forward.

"_I_ think you knew I'd be here. Something brought you here and now it's just _you_, and _me_." I stopped typing. This was ridiculous. When was she going to finally realise I had no interest in her whatsoever?

"Natasha-"

"-It's fate." Suddenly without warning my chair was spun round – Natasha jumped on top of me and straddled me tightly with her legs.

"Hey! Get off me!" I tried to push her off, hands flailing for a sturdy piece of flesh, but she simply laughed.

"It's no use fighting Blaine, I know you want me. You have ever since you started here." Without warning she ripped her top open, I shrunk away and covered my eyes, not wanting to see her breasts right in front of my face.

"You're crazy!" I shouted back. "I'm married!"

"Yes. Funny that." Suddenly she paused, cocking her head to the side so I peeked through my fingers and became confused. "You talk a lot about your wife, but we never get to meet her. Don't you ever want to invite her to a work function?"

"She's…she's very busy." I replied, beginning to get a little flustered. Natasha squeezed her legs tighter together and I let out an involuntary groan.

"Oh, busy _indeed_. So busy in fact, that she hasn't got time to even _exist_." Shit. I tried to move again but this time she grabbed hold of my hands, pulling them above my head so she could press further into me and I couldn't look away.

"But you're such an honest little thing. " She continued, lips moving closer to mine as she spoke, almost grazing over them. "Surely you couldn't make up a marriage? Unless it wasn't a bride you were married to…" Fuck. This was it. This was what I had dreaded ever since I found out about the views of my co-workers. The thing I had worked so hard to prevent from happening, put my marriage on the line for. Jerking my head away I began to sweat.

"What do you want?" Natasha laughed.

"What do I want Blaine?" She asked, almost cackling now. "I want you…to fuck me."

"What?"

"You heard me. _Fuck me_." No. I couldn't do this. Not after what had just happened with Kurt. If I did this, this was cheating. Even if I didn't want it.

"Natasha! I can't!"

"Come on. You know you want to…" Suddenly she pressed down hard on my dick. I screamed, but to my surprise, felt it harden. What? I definitely wasn't getting turned on right now. Why the fuck was I hard?

"Did you put something in my drink?" I asked, my eyes suddenly widening. _Shit_.

"Fuck me Blaine, or I tell everyone at this company your little _secret_."

"No!" I cried out, desperation filling my tone. She couldn't tell everyone. I would be ruined. Kurt and I would have nothing. _I_ would have nothing.

"It's an either or Blaine. Make a decision. Your cock, or your job."

(*)

What happened next was worse than I ever could have imagined. Natasha wasn't soft or gentle like Kurt was. She wasn't even rough in the right kind of way. As she ripped my pants down I closed my eyes, wanting to be anywhere but here, wanting to be in Kurt's arms. It didn't even feel right. I was used to hot, tight heat. This was…open. It felt wrong. I heard her grunt and moan, felt the sickly sweet taste of her lip gloss as hers assaulted mine, felt the slap of her skin on mine as she writhed and thrust. Then, just like that, it was over.

"Thank you Blaine." Natasha finally said, after what seemed like hours. I hadn't opened my eyes but felt her kiss them roughly so I squirmed. "You were worth the wait."


	20. Chapter 20 Kurt

_This is the penultimate chapter guys. The next one will be up very soon and it has a special twist to it._

_I didn't want to write a present scene for this chapter because there's not really much that can be said after a rape._

_Enjoy._

_Liz xxx_

* * *

The bed was cold without Blaine.

Granted we didn't exactly cuddle that much anymore – and the heat that normally coursed through our bodies after a good round of sex hadn't been present for months – but this night it felt colder. Like he was gone completely. I'd gone to bed livid, both at myself and at my husband. Yes I had made a mistake, a _very big_ mistake, but I'd been driven to it. Blaine had driven me down that path. He had brought this on himself too.

Oh who the fuck was I kidding? I had fucked up, _badly_. I didn't think he would ever forgive me for this. And the worst part was that things had almost gone back to normal. We were _that close_. And I had fucked it up.

But Blaine had gone crawling back to work again. Work work work. That was another huge mistake I had made – introducing him to that stupid ass company. I wanted the coffee shop Blaine back, the one that had chased me down the street to give me his number. The one that didn't earn more money than me.

(*)

I rolled onto my side to check the clock on our bedside table, the light filtering through the curtains telling me that is was morning.

**9:43am**

Jesus. Had Blaine been out all night? I sat up, now a little worried. How was his office even open until that time? Had he stayed at a friends? Pulling back the covers I got up, running a hand through my hair half through habit and half nerves. He could be anywhere. And have done anything.

(*)

Padding through the hall and into the living room I started thinking up a plan in my head. Obviously I would try the office first, I didn't know the number and doubted he would answer so would have to go there myself. Then if I couldn't find him there I would try his friends. What was his name? Tyler? I went to look for some kind of address book that Blaine might have left behind with his friends house details in but as I passed the sofa I heard a movement and stopped. Was that…?

Peering over the sofa relief washed over me. Blaine was here. Scrunched up on the sofa, not looking at all comfortable, but still here. For a second everything felt better, he had still come back to me despite everything that had happened. Then I realised something wasn't right.

(*)

"Blaine?" Moving round to the other side of the sofa I spoke gently, trying to rouse my husband from what looked like a nightmare. His whole posture was scrunched up, knees brought up to his chest and face buried in one of his arms. He looked like he was trying to block something out and I could hear a faint whimpering coming from his lips as he shook.

"Blaine?" This time I spoke a little louder, reaching out a hand to gently touch him on the shoulder. Blaine immediately jerked awake. His arm flew out to strike me and I had to jump back to avoid it.

"NO!" He shouted, pain in his voice, until he realised where he was and stopped. What the heck?

"Blaine, what's wrong?" He couldn't still be this mad about Frankie? Surely it wouldn't have affected him that much... I edged closer again, but this time with more apprehension. If it was me he was still angry at, then I didn't want to get too near.

"I…" Blaine tried to speak but couldn't get the words out. The tone of his voice scared me. Something had happened.

"Blaine you need to tell me what's wrong. I'm sorry, I can help." Deciding to risk it I held out my hand again. Blaine whacked it away.

"STOP IT!" He cried. "STOP IT!"

"I'm just trying to help you!" I shouted back, annoyed that my attempt at apologising was being rebuffed. "You don't look right Blaine! You're still in your work clothes, you wont let me touch you, something had happened!" My husband looked away, towards his chest.

"When you…find out…you wont be so caring." What? Worry began to pool in my gut. Oh my God, what _had_ happened?

"Did you cheat on me?" Fuck. If he had cheated on me I didn't think I could take it. Blaine dug his face in his arm again and began to cry.

"DID YOU CHEAT ON ME?" At that moment I didn't care he was crying, I didn't care that his whole body was shaking through fear. I just wanted to find out if I was right. Finally bringing up his head, looking like it was taking every ounce of energy he had, Blaine spoke the words I never wanted to hear.

"I slept with someone."

(*)

Right then my life imploded. Suddenly I knew what it had been like for Blaine, to hear the words that I had spoken. That I hadn't really even spoken. _I slept with someone._

"Who was he?" I was trying to keep my anger down, but it was hard. Blaine closed his eyes tightly, as if he didn't want to say it.

"It was a girl." WHAT THE FUCK.

"What? Blaine, you're GAY!" Now I jumped back. I reeled away like he had some kind of disease. "You're gay! You don't fuck women!" Blaine seemed as disgusted with himself as I was.

"I didn't have a choice."

"A CHOICE? Of course you have a choice where you put your penis! You did it!"

"She raped me ok!" Suddenly I stopped. My husband had sat up but still had his arms clasped across his chest. My brain couldn't really compute.

"She _raped_ you?" What the heck was going on? I'd barely even heard anything about Blaine's work friends, and now they were _raping_ him?

"She put Viagra in my drink. I couldn't stop it."

"You could have pushed her away!" How did a man get raped by a woman? Surely there had to be some kind of consent?

"I had to do it ok!" Blaine shouted. I had a feeling there was something he wasn't telling me, that he hadn't told me.

"Why? Why did you have to get _raped_ by a woman?"

"Because if I didn't she would tell everyone!"

(*)

Silence fell across the room. I was still crouched about a metre away from the couch. Blaine was still sat on it looking like he was dying.

"Tell everyone what." The words hovered in the air like poisonous gas. Pretty soon the explanation would trigger it and both of us would be suffocated by our own betrayal. Blaine took a deep breath, probably the last clean air he would ever take, and began.

"I haven't been entirely honest to you about work." Oh God. I knew something had been up with that stupid place.

"What haven't you told me?"

"It's not really you. It's more them." What? I was confused.

"What didn't you tell them?"

"That I was gay." Oh. Well I had to admit I'd been expecting something worse. "The first day, I was going to say something, but then I realised they were all homophobic. They'd have fired me if they knew."

"But how did you…?" I was about to ask the most obvious question, about how on earth he'd been able to get around being married to me. But then it clicked. He had got around it.

"You didn't tell them about me did you?" THAT was why I'd never met any of his work friends. Why I'd never been invited to any parties, never even heard shit about what went on in the office. They didn't even know I existed.

"No." Blaine replied. The single word was like a dagger through my heart.

"Do they even know who I am?" I remembered calling the office once, that time Blaine had told me to only ever call him on his mobile. How could I have been so stupid.

"They think you're my brother in law. Who's kind of obsessed with me." I froze.

"You made FUN of me?"

"I couldn't think of any other explanation! They wanted to know why you kept calling – I had to say something!" Fucking fantastic! Standing up I saw Blaine shrink back into the sofa, far from the powerful posture I was sure he had at stupid _work_.

"So all this time I've been sitting at home wondering what you're up to and you're LAUGHING at me with your little friends! Like I'm some kind of JOKE!"

"I'M SORRY! I didn't want to do it, I hated myself every day! But they would have fired me! Everything I worked for, _we _worked for, gone for one stupid thing! Did you want that?"

"YES! YES I DID!"

(*)

Realisation dropped over the room. Blaine stopped, suddenly shocked. I was beginning to lose track of what was going on. How had we gone from Frankie, to being raped, to lying about me at work? It was all such a mess I couldn't get my head around it.

"You _wanted_ me to get fired?" I jerked back to reality, looking back at my husband. I barely even recognised him anymore.

"Yes. If you'd been fired then none of this would have ever happened. You wouldn't have driven us away from each other."

"_I drove us away_? You think this is all _my_ fault?"

"Yes! You put your job over me!"

"You know what? All I ever hear from you about my job is how shit it is, about how I'm never around anymore, about how I don't care." Blaine suddenly stood up from his seat. All the previous despair over what had happened to him seemed covered over by anger." Well here's the thing. I do care. I care enough to sacrifice everything good about my life to make sure I can provide for both of us!"

"As if sitting around an office all day is sacrificing anything."

"There you go again! I just got freakin RAPED to protect us! Do you think I WANTED that? I could have said no, quit my job, come back here. But then where would we be?"

"We'd be happy! We'd be together!"

"No we wouldn't! We'd be poor, we'd have to sell this house. We'd lose everything."

"You're just saying that. You're hiding the fact you care more about your work than you do me now."

"At least I'm good at my job!" I went silent. The heavily barbed comment that had been about to roll off my tongue disappeared into thin air.

"What."

"You heard me. How many people have bought things from your line recently?" Blaine knew this was bad. He knew he was stepping into territory he shouldn't - that he would never be able to return from. I was still silent, wondering how far he was going to go in turning my life apart. "Do you know? Do you want me to count them on my fingers for you?" He waved my hand through the air, now completely going for broke. "That's right - none. Nobody wants to buy your designs Kurt. Nobody wants them."

"How dare you. You walk in here, and you tell me not only have you slept with another woman, you think I'm shit at my job."

"But Kurt-" I wasn't listening to him.

"How _dare_ you."

"But you _are_ shit at your job! You're shit because you don't realise when it's _not working_. You just carry on and carry on until you completely run yourself into the ground."

"I've have not run myself into the ground!"

"What do you call this then? We're arguing over something stupid!"

"This is _not_ stupid!"

"Well it _started_ as something stupid. It started with me wanting to please you and you wanting to please yourself and now its just escalated into something where we can't stand to be around each other anymore! I can't _stand_ do be near you Kurt – with your constant _nagging _and _whining_ and _criticism _of me when _I've actually kept this family alive_. It's driving me crazy."

"Well you drive me crazy too." I replied. "You spend your whole life worshipping a stupid bunch of numbers and when I try and at least seem interested in your work you just push me out! I _want_ to like what you do Blaine. I _want_ to accept it and let you do it for the rest of your life. But it's taking you away from me and I want you to stop." Blaine paused.

"You want me to _stop_ doing my job?" I nodded.

"Yes. After all the betrayal and the lies and the cheating-"

"-It was _not_ cheating-"

"-If you want to save this marriage that's the only term I will accept."

(*)

For a second I wasn't in our apartment anymore.

The coffee shop was busy. I was in a rush and slightly damp from the rain outside. I hated rain – it pretty much ruined every pretty thing. If I didn't hurry up I was going to be late for my first class, but I had to get my morning coffee. I'd been in such a rush I hadn't even gone to my normal place – just picked the first one I came across after running from my apartment. The queue was long so I spent the majority of the time brushing myself off and trying to make my hair resemble something of what it had when I'd first left. Maybe Rachel would save me a seat – she usually did. And she owed me anyway after setting me up on that _horrendous _date.

I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I barely noticed the shuffling steps I took, people pushing past with steaming beverages, until suddenly a voice brought me out of my daze.

"Can I help you?" I glanced up, ready to state my order and then get out of here. Then all speech became impossible.

Blaine was there. Sweet innocent Blaine. The curls framing his face were longer than they were now, more unruly. His shirt collar was slightly squiffed and I wanted more than ever to straighten it for him.

"Can I help you?" He'd repeated the question, just like the first time. I smiled, fumbling for my words.

"Um…er…yeah…"

"Hey Mr, do you wanna order? Some of us have jobs to get to!" I turned round, scowling at the man behind me. For goodness sake. I was in the middle of a flashback.

"Chill, I'm getting there. Grande nonfat mocha. Please."

"Coming right up." Blaine smiled, looking briefly away to the coffee machine before sneaking another little glance back at me. I blushed, remembering how it felt to be admired, to be adored. When the drink was ready he placed it on the counter in front of me with a flourish.

"Anything else?"

"No." I replied, wishing there was. I would have given anything to make this moment longer, to have it drag on forever and never get to the future, the bad things that would happen.

"That'll be 3 dollars 50 please."

"Thank you." I handed over my change and for a second our hands connected. I closed my eyes and tried to savour the feeling, as I felt I would never have it again.

"Have a nice day."

(*)

"No." I looked back up, seeing the new Blaine in front of me. Shorter hair, cleaner face, personality scarred forever.

"What?" I replied, forgetting what we were talking about.

"No. I wont give up my job. You can't expect me to do that for you. You've left me with nothing else." The last bit of hope I'd had drained away. Every argument, every doubt and pain we'd felt to this point, had all been leading up to this moment.

"Then get out." The words were quiet, I almost had to strain my ears to hear them myself. I'd never heard myself speak that quietly before.

"What?" Blaine replied.

"Get out." My lips repeated the words again, slightly louder. "If that's your wish then I want you out of this house as soon as possible.

"You can't just kick me out!"

"Those were my terms, you didn't accept them. This house is mine and I want you out."


	21. Chapter 21 Blaine and Kurt (Happy)

_Ok, so this is the final chapter of Papers and Memories! With a twist. I have posted two endings. One is for all you happy ending lovers who just can't bear to see Klaine apart (me included), the other is for those who have read these chapters and just can't see a way out of their betrayal. So I shall let you choose. Those for the happy ending, stay on this page. Those for the sad ending, go to the next chapter. Both are worth a read (if I do say so myself) but if you only want one (or none at all) that is fine with me!_

_I'll write my thank you's at the end so enjoy!_

_Liz xxx_

_P.S. Both chapters are from Kurt and Blaine's perspectives (separated by lines). There are no flashbacks._

* * *

**Chapter 21**

And that had been it. The end of our relationship.

The silence that descended over the room was different this time. There had been so many silences it was easy to classify them into one big mass, all the same. But they weren't at all. Some silences were sad, some happy, some menacing and hurtful. This silence felt like relief.

Kurt wouldn't look at me. I felt like the moment he'd told me to leave, the way his eyes wouldn't meet mine so he could realise what he was doing. I hadn't really known how to respond, so had just walked out of the room. I had left. He probably hadn't been expecting me too, but I had.

"What happened next?" The man spoke, for the first time in a while. Even he seemed a little shocked – it had surprised me that nothing had seemed to really affect him up until now. All he wanted was story after story, almost like he knew what was going to happen and just wanted to get to the end.

"There are no more stories." Kurt replied, a bitterness in his voice. "That was it."

"Did Blaine leave?"

"Yes, I did." I answered, not really wanting to talk about it either. Kurt looked down at the floor and I saw the hurt in his expression.

"Where did you go?"

"To Tylers, for a while. Until I could find my own place." It hadn't really been that hard. Most of my time with my friend had been to get over what had just happened, the logistics of the break up had been pretty easy to handle. I could afford a new apartment, several times over, but I didn't _want _one. Or maybe I did.

"Did you carry on at Gringlends?"

* * *

Blaine had carried on. He'd kept his word and chosen his job over me. Then once he'd finished his college degree and been offered to take over the company once Mr Gringlend had left, he'd walked right into the office and told him he was gay, that Natasha was being sued and he was leaving the company for a better offer. Now he was CEO of Petersons.

I had to say a part of me was proud. He'd done what I couldn't, achieved his goal. The expensive suits he wore at every meeting we had were more than I could ever dream of affording. But it had come at a price.

"What about you Kurt? What are you doing now?" I laughed.

"Making coffee." My business had failed. I'd lost everything, including my pride. The apartment was still mine due to the fact we'd bought it outright but I couldn't really afford to live there, nor did I really want to. Rachel had taken pity on me after a week or so of moping around doing nothing and scrounged a job at Teen Vogue for me. I was running errands for the people I had wanted to be, failed to be. Every day was like looking in a mirror and being crushed by what I saw.

"You still get to work in fashion though." I looked up at Blaine, seeing sympathy in his eyes as he gazed upon me. _Sympathy_. That was the final straw.

"Fuck you!" I shouted. Everyone jumped, including the man. "Don't _pity _me!" I stood up, the ugly sound of the chair we'd been sitting on scraping across the floor hurting my ears. "Look at Blaine, he got everything he wanted in life, he sucked it all out of his husband and left him with NOTHING! Did you set this all up?" Suddenly I pointed to the man and our lawyers. "Did you set this up with them to ruin me? To remind me of everything I've lost? Well _ha ha_, very funny – look's like nobody's laughing!" My anger was boiling up, hatred for Blaine and for myself, for everyone in this freaking room. "I can't do this anymore!" Turning around without another word I stormed out of the room.

As I threw open the door the receptionist in the hallway jumped. Storming past her I marched towards the exit but stopped in a little alcove and rested my forehead against the wall. Fuck. Outside the room seemed different, like we'd been in a different world. I wasn't sure how long we'd even been in there but it seemed like hours. It could have been days. My stomach grumbled and I realised we hadn't eaten either.

I waited for a couple of seconds to see if anyone had followed me, but when I heard nothing banged my head against the wall and screamed. How had this happened? Four years ago I'd been as happy as Larry – leaving for New York, about to live my dream. I'd been so full of promise, hope, happiness. If I had known it would turn out like this I never would have left.

* * *

The room fell silent as the sound of Kurt's angry footsteps faded into the distance. I looked across at Brian, who shrugged his shoulders and then towards Steve, who just stared back blankly.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"Someone should go get him." Brain replied, not looking at me. There was a brief silence again before Steve shook his head.

"I'm not going."

"_You're _his lawyer. I'm not getting him."

"I fight his legal battles, not his personal ones."

"Well we need him to complete the _legal_ contract, so you'd better hop to it." Steve bristled and I suddenly realised yet another fight was brewing. How saddening that mine and Kurt's toxic relationship had poisoned even innocent people.

"Guys." I replied, before one of them stood up and things got messy. "I'll go." The two men stopped and looked at me like I was crazy.

"Are you serious?" Brian asked. "He pretty much wants to kill you right now."

"Well I want to kill myself, so that makes two of us." Before another word could be spoken I stood up and walked out of the room.

When I opened the door the receptionist seemed guarded, as if she were expecting me to storm out like Kurt had. I smiled, holding up my hands to show I was safe and she relaxed. As I walked down the corridor I began to hypothesise where Kurt might have gone, before I heard a scream and realised he was close.

I hadn't really prepared what I was going to say, so when I saw him right in front of me stayed quiet for a bit.

"AAAAAARGH!" Kurt was banging his hands against the wall pretty roughly, if he didn't stop soon he was in danger of breaking something.

"Kurt." I said softly, trying to acknowledge him of my presence in the least offensive way. Immediately I was assaulted.

"YOU!" Luckily my reactions were quick and I grabbed the fist before it came crashing into my face. Kurt screamed louder and for a second we were locked in a stationary tussle, with his hand inches away and me frantically trying to push it back.

"Kurt! Stop!" I yelled, heaving with all my strength and feeling my face go red as Kurt's veins became visible in his forehead. Eventually his strength gave out and his hand went crashing back against the wall. I quickly pinned the other one up and felt his immediately thrash with his legs. One went into my gut and I doubled over, but still managed to hold him down.

"Go on, kick me!" I shouted in his face. "I don't care! Kick me!" It was amazing how this was the closest we'd been in months, sitting across a room from each other for hours but never once touching. Our relationship had never come to blows and I was glad for that, but right now I wanted a fight. Kurt responded to my request, sending three more excruciating kicks into my stomach before he glared angrily at me.

"Fight back!" He screamed. "You coward fight back!"

"Do you know why you're so angry?" I replied, gripping onto his wrists tightly and feeling the blood pump through his veins.

"Because I hate you!"  
"No, you're angry because once you take away the anger, then only the sadness is left. I know, it happened to me." Kurt stopped fighting. His shoulders drooped and I realised he was more exhausted than defeated. I was exhausted too.

"You're not sad." He mumbled. "You got everything. You should be happy."

"I didn't get everything." I said back. "I lost you. That was what I wanted. Always."

"Then why did you give me up?"

"You'd already given me up."

* * *

I stared back at Blaine's face. I couldn't tell if he was telling the truth. This could all be some rouse to get me back in the room. Blaine was good at rouses – he'd run one right through our relationship. I didn't know if I could trust him anymore. But I wanted to.

"I never gave you up."

"You did. Ever since I got that job you resented me."

"Well that was because you worshipped it! As soon as you immersed yourself in those stupid numbers you didn't care about me anymore!"

"Of course I did! I cared about that job because it was giving success to the both of us. I wanted to prove I could do it, that I wouldn't waste the opportunity you have given me." I paused. I'd never thought of it like that.

"Then why didn't you want me anymore?"

"You didn't want me. You were just as obsessed with your job as I was mine."

"I was not!"

"If you were in my situation – if you had to choose between your line becoming successful and me – would you do it?" I dithered.

"No…"

"Liar." Blaine stared at me again and I felt the anger boil up inside me once more.

"Why do you always have to be right?" I shouted. Blaine had loosened his grip on my hands so I pushed him away and he stepped back a few paces, putting his face in his hands.

* * *

"Why are we acting like children? When did we go back to high school?" I couldn't believe this. All the time we'd had to get over what had happened. Both of us were too stubborn to let it go. Looking at Kurt I saw him glaring back with childlike eyes, lips pouted and arms folded defensively.

"All those years ago that we met – we were young, barely adults. Now we're in full time employment and we can barely string a sentence together without bickering.

"_You're_ in full time employment." Kurt retorted back.

"There you go again! Stop feeling so sorry for yourself!" I took a step forward again

"I'll feel whatever I like about myself! My life is ruined because of you!"

"No. Your life is ruined because of _you_. When I came to New York I had no future, no prospects. I was living off scraps, virtually rock bottom. But I pulled myself together and did something about it."

"Thanks to me."

"Yes! Sometimes if you want to make something of your life, you have to get help from someone else."

"So that's all I was to you? A springboard for your career?"

"Of _course_ you weren't. You were much more than that." I paused, running out of energy. Arguing like this sucked the life out of me. I hated it. Kurt looked up at the wall like he was trying to avoid eye contact.

* * *

How dare he say I was a child. Yes I was younger than him, but I was still 25. I'd had more life experiences than most people could ever dream of. I certainly wasn't immature. But there was that stubbornness inside me. I couldn't seem to let go of it no matter how hard I tried.

For a while there was silence. I scuffed my feet along the floor trying not to look like I was waiting for something. Blaine fiddled with the cuff on his shirtsleeve. The gold button turned back and fourth through his fingers. I remember when he used to do that. I'd seen it many times when we went to the doctors surgery or he was waiting for an important phone call. He only did it when he was nervous.

"You've made mistakes too." I mumbled.

"Of course I have!" Blaine exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "I've made _loads_ of mistakes! Really bad ones, ones I'll regret for the rest of my life. _Everyone_ does. But at some point you've got to work out if holding onto those mistakes is gonna make your life worse than letting them go would."

"I don't think I can." I mumbled again.

"What?"

"Let them go. I think I've gone too far."

"Well let me bring you back." Suddenly Blaine took hold of my hands. The movement was so fast that I almost instinctively moved them away, but he managed to hold on and I drew a sharp intake of breath instead. Finally I let my eyes rest on his and I saw in them something I hadn't seen in a long time. Affection.

"I miss you." Blaine said. "I miss you a lot. And as much as I hate to say it, you kept me grounded. I feel like I'm losing focus without you." I didn't quite know what to say back. The words were something I'd wanted to hear for months, had dreamt about. But now they had finally been said I was confused.

"I'm…broken." I said, my voice trembling as I spoke. "We're broken. This isn't going to be easy to fix."

"I know." Blaine replied, sounding more and more confident with every word he uttered. "But when two things are broken, they know what it's like. They know how much the other wants to be fixed. And they can help." How could this be happening? How could suddenly everything be so clear? Somehow all the anger we'd held in that room felt like it had been staged – we'd been performing to our audience, not really thinking about what we were saying. The drama of the events had taken over, we were poisoned by our own jealously and vanity. Instead of deceiving each other we'd only been deceiving ourselves.

"I know we've done some terrible things, things that were wrong and never should have been done. We've let each other down and pretty much destroyed every happy memory we ever had. But I don't hate you. And you don't hate me. We never really did. So could there still be love?"

He was right. I didn't hate Blaine, I never had. I hated myself. Blaine had achieved what I hadn't. And I'd helped him. Because I'd wanted to. That wasn't anything to be ashamed of. If living vicariously through my husband was what I had to do to get my dreams in life, well…was that enough?

* * *

My heart was pounding. I'd laid everything out on the line and so far had got nothing back. If Kurt really was too far gone than I'd have to accept that – it would crush me, but I would. I just couldn't understand the thought that there was nothing left – that every bit of love he had for me had been burnt away. I still had some. It would need some nurturing, but I was willing to do it. I wanted a chance at happiness again, and Kurt was the only one that could give it to me.

Staring back at him I could feel my palms beginning to sweat, the grip on his tight but not too much so it looked like desperation. He hadn't loosened or pulled away so I guess that was a good sign. But there was still no answer.

"If this isn't going to work-" I started giving him my get out clause but was interrupted.

"-Shut up." Well that was unexpected. I almost drew my hands away but Kurt kept hold of them, his grip tightening so I breathed in deeply.

"Do you promise to try?" He asked, sounding guarded. My heart leapt.

"Yes."

"And if this doesn't work, we never try again?"

"Of course." I wasn't going to shoot a dead horse in the foot. Kurt paused for another few agonising seconds, the cogs in his brain whirring so I felt like I was going to die if I didn't hear something soon. Then, finally, he sighed.

"We never did go on that honeymoon." He said. My eyebrows furrowed for a second, trying to work out what he meant. Then something beautiful spread across that perfect porcelain face.

A smile.

* * *

The phone went on the bedside table. I was roused from my half sleep and felt Kurt stir beside me. He nestled his head further into my bare chest and I stroked his hair with my fingers as I picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" The weather outside was pretty atrocious – the rain battered against the window and the trees waved around like people in a mosh pit, dangerously close to breaking their way inside. It wasn't exactly the best scene for a honeymoon. But then again, Kurt and I had to lot of catching up to do, that didn't involve going outside.

"Who is it?" My husband asked. He pulled himself upwards, grinning cheekily as he brought his lips to my mouth, kissing me slowly so I struggled to what was being said on the other line.

"Sssh." I replied, pushing him away but enjoying the contact, my hand lingering on his shoulder. "Yes, this is Blaine Anderson-Hummel." Kurt pouted, as if he wanted the conversation to be over and began to run his fingers down my chest until I froze.

"What?" That couldn't be… It couldn't… My husband looked worried but I waved him away, wanting to be sure what I had heard was correct, that I hadn't somehow dreamt it.

"Are you sure? Like, really sure?" The voice on the other line confirmed what he had told me. My mouth opening and closing like a goldfish I wondered how to end the conversation, and how I was going to tell Kurt.

"Um, thanks for letting me know. Bye…" The line went dead. Kurt immediately took the phone away from me and threw it on the bed.

"What happened Blaine?" He asked, looking concerned. "You're scaring me."

"That was the man from the solicitors office." I said slowly, still not quite believing what I was about to say. "He said we both missed our divorce proceeding appointment."

"But we went to that. And we didn't need it after all anyway." Kurt smiled, moving to lie down on my chest again, before I held his arm to keep him up.

"He said it got postponed. Somebody had a prior agreement they couldn't get out of - we should have been informed. The presiding figure was there waiting for us…" Suddenly the penny dropped. Kurt's face immediately fell and his whole complexion turned white.

"But if he's there today, then…"

**Who was the man?**

* * *

The End

* * *

_So that's the end of another fic! I have really anjoyed writing this, even if it was a complete angst-fest towards the end, so thank you to everyone that enjoyed it with me! I know it's hard to read about sad things, especially with how canon is going at the moment, so thanks for sticking around and not leaving me! I love each and every one of you very much._

_Next I have many plans, the big one being a trilogy of fics all centred around one theme that I am VERY excited about. The 2nd and 3rd stories will also contain different pairings that I hope you will stick around to read. There is also the task of YDOYD:SY to complete and the Sambastian twin fic I have already started too! (Please take a look at that because I think Sambastian are an underrated pairing and I would love some feedback)_

_So, all that is left to say is thank you again and stay tuned! If you ever want a chat or have an prompt you would like me to write message me on here or tumblr I would love to chat!_

_Thanks_

_Liz xxx_


	22. Chapter 21 Blaine and Kurt (Sad)

_If you are here I'm guessing you're an angst whore (or a realist :D) and wanted the sad ending. This has a little twist at the end that you might be surprised at!_

_I'll write my thank you's at the end so enjoy!_

_Liz xxx_

_P.S. Both chapters are from Kurt and Blaine's perspectives (separated by lines). There are no flashbacks._

* * *

And that had been it. The end of our relationship.

The silence that descended over the room was different this time. There had been so many silences it was easy to classify them into one big mass, all the same. But they weren't at all. Some silences were sad, some happy, some menacing and hurtful. This silence felt like relief.

Kurt wouldn't look at me. I felt like the moment he'd told me to leave, the way his eyes wouldn't meet mine so he could realise what he was doing. I hadn't really known how to respond, so had just walked out of the room. I had left. He probably hadn't been expecting me too, but I had.

"What happened next?" The man spoke, for the first time in a while. Even he seemed a little shocked – it had surprised me that nothing had seemed to really affect him up until now. All he wanted was story after story, almost like he knew what was going to happen and just wanted to get to the end.

"There are no more stories." Kurt replied, a bitterness in his voice. "That was it."

"Did Blaine leave?"

"Yes, I did." I answered, not really wanting to talk about it either. Kurt looked down at the floor and I saw the hurt in his expression.

"Where did you go?"

"To Tylers, for a while. Until I could find my own place." It hadn't really been that hard. Most of my time with my friend had been to get over what had just happened, the logistics of the break up had been pretty easy to handle. I could afford a new apartment, several times over, but I didn't _want _one. Or maybe I did.

"Did you carry on at Gringlends?"

* * *

Blaine had carried on. He'd kept his word and chosen his job over me. Then once he'd finished his college degree and been offered to take over the company once Mr Gringlend had left, he'd walked right into the office and told him he was gay, that Natasha was being sued and he was leaving the company for a better offer. Now he was CEO of Petersons.

I had to say a part of me was proud. He'd done what I couldn't, achieved his goal. The expensive suits he wore at every meeting we had were more than I could ever dream of affording. But it had come at a price.

"What about you Kurt? What are you doing now?" I laughed.

"Making coffee." My business had failed. I'd lost everything, including my pride. The apartment was still mine due to the fact we'd bought it outright but I couldn't really afford to live there, nor did I really want to. Rachel had taken pity on me after a week or so of moping around doing nothing and scrounged a job at Teen Vogue for me. I was running errands for the people I had wanted to be, failed to be. Every day was like looking in a mirror and being crushed by what I saw.

"You still get to work in fashion though." I looked up at Blaine, seeing humour in his eyes as he looked upon me. _Humour_. That was the final straw.

"Fuck you!" I shouted. Everyone jumped, including the man. "Don't _patronise _me!" I stood up, the ugly sound of the chair we'd been sitting on scraping across the floor hurting my ears. "Look at Blaine, he got everything he wanted in life, he sucked it all out of his husband and left him with NOTHING! Did you set this all up?" Suddenly I pointed to the man and our lawyers. "Did you set this up with them to ruin me? To remind me of everything I've lost? Well _ha ha_, very funny – look's like nobody's laughing!" My anger was boiling up, hatred for Blaine and for myself, for everyone in this freaking room. "I can't do this anymore!" Turning around without another word I stormed out of the room.

As I threw open the door the receptionist in the hallway jumped. Storming past her I marched towards the exit but stopped in a little alcove and rested my forehead against the wall. Fuck. Outside the room seemed different, like we'd been in a different world. I wasn't sure how long we'd even been in there but it seemed like hours. It could have been days. My stomach grumbled and I realised we hadn't eaten either.

I waited for a couple of seconds to see if anyone had followed me, but when I heard nothing banged my head against the wall and screamed. How had this happened? Four years ago I'd been as happy as Larry – leaving for New York, about to live my dream. I'd been so full of promise, hope, happiness. If I had known it would turn out like this I never would have left.

* * *

The room fell silent as the sound of Kurt's angry footsteps faded into the distance. I looked across at Brian, who shrugged his shoulders and then towards Steve, who just stared back blankly.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"Someone should go get him." Brain replied, not looking at me. There was a brief silence again before Steve shook his head.

"I'm not going."

"_You're _his lawyer. I'm not getting him."

"I fight his legal battles, not his personal ones."

"Well we need him to complete the _legal_ contract, so you'd better hop to it." Steve bristled and I suddenly realised yet another fight was brewing. How saddening that mine and Kurt's toxic relationship had poisoned even innocent people.

"Guys." I replied, before one of them stood up and things got messy. "I'll go." The two men stopped and looked at me like I was crazy.

"Are you serious?" Brian asked. "He pretty much wants to kill you right now."

"Well I want to kill him, so at least it would be an even fight." Before another word could be spoken I stood up and walked out of the room.

When I opened the door the receptionist seemed guarded, as if she were expecting me to storm out like Kurt had. I smiled, holding up my hands to show I was safe and she relaxed. As I walked down the corridor I began to hypothesise where Kurt might have gone, before I heard a scream and realised he was close.

Finally reaching him I almost laughed, the position so familiar to how I'd seen him before.

"Come on Kurt." I said patronisingly. "Now's not the time to have a tantrum."

"HOW DARE YOU!" He shouted. Suddenly a fist was flung in my face. Luckily my quick reaction meant I grabbed the fist before it came crashing into my face. Kurt screamed louder and for a second we were locked in a stationary tussle, with his hand inches away and me frantically trying to push it back.

"This is pathetic" I yelled, heaving with all my strength and feeling my face go red as Kurt's veins became visible in his forehead. Eventually his strength gave out and his hand went crashing back against the wall. I quickly pinned the other one up and felt his immediately thrash with his legs. One went into my gut and I doubled over, but still managed to hold him down.

"Go on, kick me!" I shouted in his face. "I don't care! Kick me!" It was amazing how this was the closest we'd been in months, sitting across a room from each other for hours but never once touching. Our relationship had never come to blows and I was glad for that, but right now I wanted a fight. Kurt responded to my request, sending three more excruciating kicks into my stomach before he glared angrily at me.

"Fight back!" He screamed. "You coward fight back!"

"I think we both know how this ends." I replied, pushing back harder until eventually Kurt relented and slumped down into the wall. It was funny – I'd never really thought about the age difference between us before. Now it was all too clear how young he really was.

"Why _did_ you have to go running off like that?" I asked. It really had been a tad dramatic.

* * *

"Because I couldn't cope." I replied. Blaine scoffed, seeming cruelly unsympathetic.

"All you have to do is sign your name on a piece of paper now we're done." I couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Do you not even want to try?" I replied. He looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

"We just spent _hours_ going through our entire lives together, all the ups and downs, and now you just want to get on and _sign_? We might as well not have done the whole thing altogether!" Blaine paused, thinking about my words.

"_Do_ you want to try?" He asked after a while. I dithered. Did I? This process had been hard enough, did I really want to go through it again?

"I don't know."

"Well that answers your question." Stepping away from me Blaine fiddled with the button on his shirt cuff. For a second it reminded me of when he used to get nervous, then remembered mostly that had been to do with board meetings. Blaine had stepped away too many times now for me to care anymore.

"I would have loved you you know." I suddenly replied, the words taking me off guard just as much as it did Blaine. "If we'd tried again."

"I know." He replied. "I would have loved you too. But we can't try again. It's too late now. We're just not meant to be together." He was right. Pushing two pieces of cut paper together didn't make them stick. Some things were just unforgivable.

"Do you want to go back inside?" Blaine motioned towards the open hallway. I paused for a moment, wondering if I should savour the last few moments we would eve have together as a couple. Then, slowly, I nodded my head.

* * *

When we re-entered the room Brian and Steve immediately sat up. There was a sad hopefulness in their eyes, like they'd been expecting us to magically make up, and suddenly want to call everything off. Maybe that happened in movies, but not here.

"We're ready." I said, looking over to Kurt who nodded too. At least we would be civil during this part. Brian and Steve looked a little sad, but immediately got out the papers we would need again and flicked to the right page. I sat down next to Brian and waited for him to be done, picking up the pen and clicking the end up and down repeatedly. Kurt didn't say anything, just waited patiently and picked up his writing instrument only when the correct place to sign was pointed out for him.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" The man suddenly asked. I couldn't help but think he was stalling, desperately trying to make us reconsider. I looked him straight in the eye and shook my head.

"No. Kurt?" Glancing over I saw Kurt doing the exact same thing, my husband who was soon to become my ex-husband.

"No."

"Then sign here." Brian pointed out the line. I stared at it for a second, marvelling at how a single mark on a piece of paper that would normally have no significance, could here change someone's life forever. I leant forward, bringing my pen to the page, and signed. My signature wasn't my best, but it was distinguishable. That was it.

"You are officially divorced." Steve said once Kurt had signed. Immediately a strange sense on relief washed over me. I had expected to feel terrible at this moment, like my life was falling apart. Instead I just felt glad.

"Thanks." I said, looking over at Brian, Steve, and the man. It was funny how we had never learnt his name. I expected we would never see him again so didn't particularly care. Finally bringing my gaze to Kurt I saw him smiling too. He seemed relieved. That was good. I never wanted to think I had pressured him into anything.

"Good luck." I said. My hand stretched out over the table, for a second Kurt looked at it, surprised. Then he smiled, taking it and shaking it gladly. After the handshake was finished I got to my feet, brushing down my suit jacket and getting out my phone.

"Is it ok to go now?" I asked. I wasn't sure what the etiquette for leaving after you'd just got divorced was.

"Of course." The man said. Saying goodbye to everyone one final time I turned and walked out of the door.

* * *

I left a little space between Blaine and I leaving the room. It felt strange to be doing something completely on my own, but at the same time invigorating. I found myself planning what I was going to do tonight without having to worry about anything else. I would ring Rachel soon and tell her everything had gone smoothly. Blaine and I had parted, but on good terms.

I was walking down the corridor, having apologised to the receptionist I had scared earlier, when I noticed Blaine in the alcove I had been in before. His back was turned so he didn't know I was listening.

"Hey Sebastian." He said, sounding happier than I'd heard him in a while. "It's all done. Kurt and I are divorced." Suddenly my gut tightened. I didn't like the way this sounded. "Yeah, I'm kind of relieved. Are you coming home from work soon? I need some massage therapy – all that sitting down made me kinda tense." Who was he talking to? Gripping my fists together I knew I should just carry on walking – this wasn't my business anymore, I shouldn't get upset. "Ok, well see you soon. I love you baby." Blaine flicked the phone closed and suddenly I realised what I was doing. Practically running away I made my way towards the lift, hearing the faint sound of my ex-husband swearing behind me and frantically pressing the button.

I got in the lift without even looking, trying desperately not to cry.

"Hey buddy, are you ok?" A voice sounded next to me and I looked over in surprise, seeing a tall blonde haired man standing next to me. He had kind eyes and seemed a little concerned.

"Yeah." I replied, trying to make me believe it myself. "I just got divorced."

"Ouch." The man replied. "I had that moment last week. Was just picking up the paperwork." He held up some pieces of paper as if explaining himself and I nodded, wishing the lift would hurry up so I could get out of here.

"I say husbands are just a waste of time right?" He continued. I laughed, more incredulously than in humour, but he smiled and looked at me.

"I'm Sam." A hand was held out in front of me. I stared at it for a couple of seconds, before slowly taking it and shaking. The man had strong grip, stronger than Blaine's had ever been. Somehow through that handshake something told me everything was going to be alright. I looked up at the man, seeing his caring, smiling face, and smiled back.

"Kurt."

* * *

The End

* * *

_So that's the end of another fic! I have really anjoyed writing this, even if it was a complete angst-fest towards the end, so thank you to everyone that enjoyed it with me! I know it's hard to read about sad things, especially with how canon is going at the moment, so thanks for sticking around and not leaving me! I love each and every one of you very much._

_Next I have many plans, the big one being a trilogy of fics all centred around one theme that I am VERY excited about. The 2nd and 3rd stories will also contain different pairings that I hope you will stick around to read. There is also the task of YDOYD:SY to complete and the Sambastian twin fic I have already started too! (Please take a look at that because I think Sambastian are an underrated pairing and I would love some feedback)_

_So, all that is left to say is thank you again and stay tuned! If you ever want a chat or have an prompt you would like me to write message me on here or tumblr I would love to chat!_

_Thanks_

_Liz xxx_


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